Dear Mister Bush

To 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, postmarked Tehran, Iran. Penned by liberation activist Koorosh Afshar:

Mr. President, we appreciate the generosity of your resolve in helping the Iranian nation heal one of its many wounds. We treasure this kindness, which we consider an example of America's compassionate attitude toward the Iranian people.

...Sir, please remind Secretary Powell that even the thought of negotiating with the mullahs is absolutely futile. Khatami and Khomeini are both against the Iranian people...[T]he mullahs showed their true vicious colors when it came to the earthquake-relief money, according to some Iranian sources. Fully aware of the horrible conditions in Bam, the mullahs still didn't hesitate to seize hefty portions of the international humanitarian aid, only to use it as campaign funding for the upcoming elections for the Islamic parliament. Mr. President, how can Secretary Powell even speak of negotiations with people this evil?

...[M]r. President, please do not forget that what you and your allied forces have begun in Iraq and Afghanistan can only bear fruit if the Iranian problem is solved. We can do it: Trust us, not the mullahs. Invest in the real Iran, not the Islamic occupying regime. Allow us to make this plague the last to afflict the Iranians; allow us to make 2004 the year of Iran's liberation.


Keep faith, Koorosh. Iraq and Afghanistan, once two of the world's least hopeful places, are steadily moving towards democratic sovereignty. If President Bush can be believed, there is a policy corner - influenced by stability in Iraq - to be turned before State's habitual, empty diplomatic gestures to Iran's Islamist mullahs will finally be turned to calls for their removal. I trust Bush; but I sympathize with you, Koorosh, and hope that corner comes sooner rather than later. This year would be a fine time.

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