Tuesday, May 09, 2006

What aren't they telling us?

Why can't we read crazy Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's letter to George Bush? News agencies report on it and pull out nice little excerpts, but why don't they print the text? With quotes like:

"any technological and scientific achievement reached in the Middle East region is translated into and portrayed as a threat to the Zionist regime." [maybe because you threatened to wipe Israel off the map? - ed.]

and...

"Liberalism and Western-style democracy have not been able to help realize the ideals of humanity," said the letter, obtained by The Associated Press. "Today these two concepts have failed. Those with insight can already hear the sounds of the shattering and fall of the ideology and thoughts of the Liberal democratic systems."

...it makes me curious what else this complete crackpot said and why the media won't let us read it.

UPDATE: Here it is - full text from the Wall Street Journal. Why am I not surprised? The New York Times probably realized it sounded too much like their editorial page...

UPDATE Again: It's clear from this 18-page bit of craziness that the President of Iran is quite insane, and has been watching a lot of CNN. He claims that 9/11 was a conspiracy, that the war in Iraq was illegal, and that democracy and rule of law by the people has failed and is foolhardy. He also, while claiming that Jews, Christians, and Muslims believe in the same god, makes a case for the destruction of Israel and questions the validity of the holocaust. Finally, it's my interpretation that he argues he is doing the will of God in opposing the US, to what end I shudder to think.

This man is the Hitler of our time.

UPDATE Again Again: The writers at Jihad Watch point out that this letter could be considered a Hadith - a call for an unbeliever to convert to Islam.

In a Hadith, Muhammad tells his followers to call people to Islam before waging war against them:

Fight in the name of Allah and in the way of Allah. Fight against those who disbelieve in Allah. Make a holy war…When you meet your enemies who are polytheists, invite them to three courses of action. If they respond to any one of these, you also accept it and withhold yourself from doing them any harm. Invite them to (accept) Islam; if they respond to you, accept it from them and desist from fighting against them….If they refuse to accept Islam, demand from them the Jizya [the tax on non-Muslims specified in Qur’an 9:29]. If they agree to pay, accept it from them and hold off your hands. If they refuse to pay the tax, seek Allah’s help and fight them. (Sahih Muslim 4294)

In light of that, this letter could be -- but is not necessarily -- a prelude to an attack.

Not good.

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