Bush's Unanswered Letter

Tom Porteous
May 12, 2006


Tom Porteous is a syndicated columnist and author, formerly with the BBC and the British Foreign Office.

The first reaction of the Bush administration to the extraordinary letter from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been to dismiss it out of hand on the grounds that it does not offer any compromises over Iran's nuclear enrichment program. That’s a strategic mistake, because the biggest complaint of Middle Easterners about the United States is precisely that it has consistently failed to listen to concerns of the kind outlined by Ahmadinejad.

Ahmadinejad's 18-page letter is distinctly peculiar in its tone and style. It is replete with references to the Quran and the holy prophets of Islam, Christianity and Judaism. It is also remarkably courteous coming from a man who has been painted in the United States as a new Hitler precisely in order to preempt any serious dialogue or engagement.

But most importantly, the letter raises serious points which are currently matters of intense international concern and debate, and on which millions of Muslims would like to hear answers from the world's democratic superpower.

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