Like many they no doubt receive, it is a scathing attack on the policies and ambitions of the Bush Administration. It asks obvious questions like why a leader devoted to Christianity would so willfully engage in practices antithetical to his religion or why a complicit media eagerly trumpets war and lies for a government not looking out for the interests of its people.
I've seen letters like this; many times Canon Fodder echoes its sentiments. One stark difference, however, is that this one was actually read by the White House. That is because its author is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and its words represent the first official correspondence between our two nations since the 1979 hostage crisis.
What's he up to? Why, trying to de-fuse nonsense of nuclear proportions, of course.
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Don't act surprised if you've heard "Iran" a lot recently. The United States has been trumpeting regime change for the Islamic nation since before Bush's re-election in 2004; its recent posturing over Iran's nuclear ambitions have re-ignited Cold War tensions long thought buried beneath the rubble of the Berlin Wall. Congress has supported resolutions that would "impose" the same glorious democracy we exported to Iraq while our betters in print and broadcast media fill our minds with shameless propaganda. The result is that Iran has been demonized for months as a rogue nation bent on securing atomic weapons.
What did Iran do to provoke such vitriol and hatred? It's been working with Russia to create a nuclear power program. And as a signatory of the Non-Nuclear Proliferation Treaty, they're entitled to do just that. And under Article 6 of the Constitution, the United States is obligated to honor their safe and legal development of the technology.
It has also decided to open an oil bourse that would trade the previous commodity in euros, not dollars. Such an act could cripple American hegemony without a shot being fired; with no dependency on the dollar as a de facto currency, the strength of the American government could collapse.
That's the problem with fiat money... like the president, it's a faith-based exchange. And since economic sactions are neither sexy nor dangerous enough to "wow" the average American, Iran's in the hot-seat for its forward-thinking development of alternative energy sources. Don't you love the way politics work?
It's ridiculous that our government would threaten and lambaste another nation for sustaining a peaceful nuclear program while promoting other aggressive nuclear programs (Israel, I'm looking at you). But why should we be remotely shocked? We fell through the black hole of logic long ago. President Bush just nominated Michael Hayden - a career military man who (despite a pledge to uphold the Constitution) advocates illegal wiretapping against his fellow citizens - to the top post of the civilian CIA. This is not a government that acts sanely and responsibly in any regard.
Ahmadinejad's letter declares this unabashedly. It's surreal to read the words from a political leader considering I've essentially been saying the same things for years. How does the President claim to be a follower of Christ yet eschew his most basic teachings? How does a country wage war on a lie? How does it win a war against terrorism while torturing hundreds of men, women and children and financing rebel groups? And how does it promote freedom and equality while simultaneously supporting discrimination against Palestinians?
Ahmadinejad also highlights disastrous American involvement in Latin America and Africa; it's a virtual laundry list of every weakness the United States government has birthed abroad over the past 50 years. It's disturbing, quite frankly, to read succinctly what Americans have let our government get away with.
Not that any of it will matter. According to CNN, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice has "swiftly rejected the letter, saying it didn't resolve questions about Tehran's suspect nuclear program."
"This letter is not the place that one would find an opening to engage on the nuclear issue or anything of the sort," Rice said. "It isn't addressing the issues that we're dealing with in a concrete way." It's always funny you make a rational and well-documented argument and your opponent sidesteps the issue entirely and just flings more nonsense your way, isn't it?
So allow me to spell out "Tehran's suspect nuclear program." There is none.
Iran is within its rights to pursue a nuclear program; it has made itself accountable to the NNTP for precisely that reason. Iran has allowed inspectors to check out its developments; check out the IAEA's (sorry, Mr. President, I meant "E-I-E-I-O") report on the matter. Much in the same vein as Iraq's mythical WMDs, if Iran is developing nuclear weapons, the United States can't prove it. And even if Iran pulled out of the treaty, the United States broken international law first by refusing to recognize Iran's rights.
The United States (and the world by extension) has nothing to fear from Iran's nuclear capabilities. If they ever cobbled together a nuke or two I wouldn't bat an eyelash. Why? Because the United States spent 45 years and $5 trillion amassing the largest nuclear deterrent (and debt) on the planet. Should Iran ever think about unleashing that "mighty" arsenal on the U.S. their entire country would become a vast irradiated parking lot. That's the whole point of the deterrent, isn't it? If not, can I get a refund on that $5 trillion?
I applaud President Ahmadinejad for having the courage to articulate internationally what many think but few say. His letter seems like a sincere effort to put an end to Bush's madness before it starts and I can only hope what's left in the Treasury's coffers aren't put into an Iranian war machine. But I know this isn't about nukes. It never was and never will be. Like many things on the international stage, this is mere smokescreen to much larger issues.
Larger issues that continue to reinforce the notion that the United States is not interested in diplomacy, only battle. But at what cost?
In the case of Iran, we're letting everything ride.
Canon Fodder is a bi-weekly analysis of politics and society.
