Ahmadinejad Criticizes U.S. Iraq Policy In Open Letter

President Ahmadinejad (file photo) (Fars) November 30, 2006 -- Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad has sent an unprecedented open letter to the American people, urging them to reverse their government's policies in Iraq.

In a letter addressed to "Noble Americans," Ahmadinejad urged the United States to pull out of Iraq and suggested it spend its Iraq military budget at home instead.

He also accused the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush of governing by what he called "coercion, force, and injustice."

Tom Casey, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department later, dismissed the letter as mere public relations.

"My initial reaction to you is that there's really not a lot new here and certainly it is something of a public-affairs or public-relations effort on the part of the Iranian government," Casey said.

In May, Ahmadinejad sent a surprise 18-page letter to Bush. Like the latest letter, that one also did not directly address Iran's disputed nuclear program.

(AFP, Reuters, AP)

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