July 18, 2007

Dear President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Hello. My name is George Desnoyers and I live in Massachusetts, USA. I am having trouble understanding some things that are going on between the Iranian and United States governments. I don't know why my government seems to hate the Iranian government so much. Maybe you can find someone from Iran, possibly even from your government, who knows English and has enough time to help me.

Every time there is a national election in the United States, the people running for office tell the American voters that they are in favor of the United States becoming free of dependence on foreign sources of fuel.

But, when Iran wants to be free of dependence on other countries and produce its own nuclear fuel, the United States leaders say they will not allow Iran to do that. This is most puzzling!

I know some Americans think Iran doesn't need nuclear fuel, because it has so much oil. But I also have read that many economists, both inside and outside Iran, think that Iran is better off having some nuclear energy so that it can be able to export more of its oil. That seems like a reasonable view to me, and one would think that's a decision for Iran to make not U.S. President Bush.

The U.S. leaders say that Iran really wants to build nuclear weapons, but I have heard that you and other Iranian leaders have said Iran DOESN'T intend to build nuclear weapons. Personally, I believe that if you wanted to build nuclear weapons you would just give your official three months notice that you are getting out of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and then start to build them. That would be Iran's right, if Iran wanted to do that. As I understand it, North Korea did that. I read that North Korea legally exercised its right to pull out of the Treaty on January 10, 2003.

The funny thing is, my government keeps saying that it will not allow Iran to have nuclear weapons, and that "all options are on the table" for dealing with Iran. That language is recognized in the U.S. as code-speak for the words, "We are keeping the option open to use nuclear weapons against Iran." It seems ironic that my government would threaten to use against Iran the very same weapons it says it will not allow Iran to even get in a position to build.

Below are my questions. PLEASE, President Ahmadinejad, PLEASE try to find someone from Iran who knows English and can give me some answers. I hate to bother you. I know you must be very busy, but I cannot get satisfactory answers from my own government.

1. Did you or the Iranian government do something which I and other ordinary American citizens don't know about that caused the American government to hate you so much? Americans have been told that you wrote a long letter to President Bush, but that he did not read it. Why do you think refusing to read your letter is something Bush would be proud of, or even admit? Why would ANY president refuse to read a letter from the president of another country he was threatening to go to war against? Isn't it worth taking the time it takes to read a letter - even a very long letter - if there was even a very tiny chance that improved understanding might result which could help us to avert a war? Has there ever been another case in which one nation's president refused to read a letter from the president of another country that the first president was threatening to attack? Isn't there an obligation to try diplomacy before trying war?

2. Doesn't the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty forbid any Nuclear Have from using nuclear weapons against any Nuclear Have-not? If so, why is the United States government considering the use of nuclear weapons against Iran just because Iran wants to exercise its right to enrich uranium? (It is very sad to hear from our United States leaders that they are thinking of attacking Iran because they are very frequently attacking other countries and may very well be serious about attacking Iran. I hate to tell you that, but it is true. The United States government has used force several hundred times and been in dozens of wars in just a little more than 200 years. Once, my government started a war against Mexico and stole half of that country. Most of the U.S. wars were started by the U.S. in order to steal land or other people's resources for our big corporations, such as the United Fruit Company, the Dole Company, or American oil companies.)

3. How do Iranians feel about George Bush trying to run their country? (For your information, Bush does a terrible job running his own country! About seventy percent of Americans say he is a bad leader, and can hardly stand him. No-one here trusts him anymore.)

4. Why should Bush or ANY United States President - make Iran's decisions? Shouldn't the age of great empires trying to rule most of the world be over? Isn?t it better for distinctive populations to be able to make their own decisions? Isn't that what freedom is all about? Why should one nation, the United States of America, have so much of everybody else?s freedom, and all other nations have so little?

5. Why aren't Iran, India, Germany, Japan, and several other great nations - especially from Africa and South America which have none, permanent members of the United Nations Security Council? Is it fair that the only permanent members of the Security Council are the four big Western Allies from World War II plus China? Whatever on earth could be the reason for that?

6. How do Iranians feel about the U.S. government (NOT the U.S. people) threatening Iran with nuclear attacks just because Iran wants to do its own nuclear enrichment to produce fuel?

7. How do Iranians feel about being surrounded by nations with nuclear weapons (India, Pakistan, Russia, Israel, China, and the United States) but not being allowed by the United States to produce your own nuclear weapons? (I included the United States as one of Iran's nuclear-armed neighbors because nuclear-armed United States ships and planes are ALL over the world.)

8. Would it be fair for some countries to be allowed to enrich uranium and others prohibited from doing so? Shouldn't the concept of fairness be learned by the age of five years?

9. Weren't countries (like Iran) that signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty without having nuclear weapons promised something in return for their promise not to build nuclear weapons in the future, namely that the countries already having nuclear weapons would dismantle their stockpiles of such weapons? What has happened to that idea?

10. U.S. President Bush has recently welcomed another nation (India) into the Nuclear Club. How does welcoming another nation into the Nuclear Club make sense since, according to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the Nuclear Haves were supposed to get rid of their nuclear weapons?

11. How do Iranians feel about the United States violating the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in about a dozen ways, and on hundreds of occasions, but expecting Iran to always obey the Treaty?

[It seems to me that the last really huge violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty by the U.S. was when Bush welcomed India into the Nuclear Club, also called the "Nuclear Haves." Bush also promised India help with nuclear technology in spite of the fact that India secretly developed nuclear weapons. As I understand it, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty forbids countries from sharing nuclear technology with countries that have refused to sign the Treaty or have secretly developed nuclear weapons. Also, as I understand it, the United States government violates the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (and agreements attached to it at the conferences held every five years) by selling or giving planes that could be used as delivery systems for nuclear weapons to countries that have secretly developed nuclear weapons, for example to Israel. The U.S. government has given or sold potential delivery systems for nuclear weapons to Israel very, very many times. Why is the United States government so determined to stop North Korea from sharing its missile technology with other nations while at the same time it claims that it is okay for the United States to help other countries acquire nuclear delivery systems?]

12. Finally, President Ahmadinejad, do you happen to know why my government does not trust Iran's leaders to tell the truth? I believe your leaders are very religious and truthful. As far as I can tell, my own government must be either the biggest liar in the universe of national governments or else the closest thing to it. Do you suppose that is why the United States government does not seem to be able to trust other governments? My government has even been caught spying on other countries? United Nations delegations.

PLEASE, President Ahmadinejad, PLEASE help me to understand what is really going on between our two governments. If you can find someone who knows English and has enough time to answer my questions, I will be sure to share the answers with my friends, most of whom are as puzzled as I am.

I know my government will be spying on my email, and on your answers, because it is always spying on American citizens. It is not even a secret any more, and that is one of the reasons so many Americans hate their government. But I am BEGGING you to help me anyway, because I really want to know why there seems to be two different standards, one for the United States and a different one for all other countries.

Thank you for your attention and any help you can give me!

You have my very best wishes for peace.