Iran president's letter to the U.S. - Mideast/N. Africa - MSNBC.com Quote:
The US administration's illegal and immoral behavior is not even confined to outside its borders. You are witnessing daily that under the pretext of "the war on terror," civil liberties in the United States are being increasingly curtailed. Even the privacy of individuals is fast losing its meaning. Judicial due process and fundamental rights are trampled upon. Private phones are tapped, suspects are arbitrarily arrested, sometimes beaten in the streets, or even shot to death.
I have no doubt that the American people do not approve of this behavior and indeed deplore it.
. . .
I'd also like to say a word to the winners of the recent elections in the US:
The United States has had many administrations; some who have left a positive legacy, and others that are neither remembered fondly by the American people nor by other nations.
Now that you control an important branch of the US Government, you will also be held to account by the people and by history.
If the US Government meets the current domestic and external challenges with an approach based on truth and Justice, it can remedy some of the past afflictions and alleviate some of the global resentment and hatred of America. But if the approach remains the same, it would not be unexpected that the American people would similarly reject the new electoral winners, although the recent elections, rather than reflecting a victory, in reality point to the failure of the current administration's policies.
|
All in all a pretty reasonable letter. It's only three pages long, go ahead and read it if you want to gain insight into his conception of reality. I suspect this is a man we could engage with, if we chose to, and bring about some progress in areas where we either disagree and/or simply fail to understand the other's viewpoint and conceptions. On some issues he really could benefit by stepping out of the box and taking a Martian perspective, e.g., some of his statements on Israel are quite one-sided. That said, U.S. foreign policy is also guilty of group-think and myopia on occasion. We have some serious things to work out between us and painting Iran with the broad stroke of
evil is simply not useful.
Quote:
|
It is possible to govern based on an approach that is distinctly different from one of coercion, force and injustice.
|
The thought had never occurred to me.
