JAMES WOLCOTT ON IRAN LEADER'S "LETTER LUNACY"

Interesting. I hadn't read any excerpts from the infamous letter until now.

"September Eleven was a horrendous incident. The killing of innocents is deplorable and appalling in any part of the world. Our government immediately declared its disgust with the perpetrators and offered its condolences to the bereaved and expressed its sympathies."

"By the way, there is not a word about this statement in Western media reports about the letter: instead, we get headlines like 'Iranian Letter Lambastes Bush,' 'Iran Letter Faults U.S., Makes No Nuclear Proposals,' and 'A Dead Letter, but Shrewdly Timed. The one major exception was the Chicago Tribune, which ran the head: 'Let's Talk, Iranians Tell Bush.'

"This underscores another section of the letter, in which the Iranian president makes his debut as a media critic, putting his critique of Western news outlets during the run-up to war with Iraq in some pretty familiar terms. After excoriating the media for ratcheting up the climate of fear that accompanied 9/11, he writes:

"In media charters, correct dissemination of information and honest reporting of a story are established tenets. I express my deep regret about the disregard shown by certain Western media for these principles. The main pretext for an attack on Iraq was the existence of WMDs. This was repeated incessantly – for the public to finally believe – and the ground set for an attack on Iraq."

Ain't it the truth. Now it's very uncomfortable and irksome having foreign hotheads hurl our faults back at us, but I agree with Raimondo: "My point is that there is clearly room for some sort of dialogue, if not rapprochement."