Open Letter to President Ahmadinejad‏ - FATHER FRANK’S RANTS

Rant Number 364 22 September 2009

Dear President,

I have a dream. I have it because I had a dream.

I dreamt of you, Mr President. Nothing so special in that, you might say. But my dream was different from other dreams. Because I dreamt of you dreaming. A dream within a dream – that must be pretty rare, as far as dreams go, I hope you will agree.

The dream I dreamt you dreamed concerns the greatest Iranian, the greatest Persian ruler of all time, Mr President. King Cyrus – you Iranians call him Kurush, I believe.

So I dreamt Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Achaemenid empire, had appeared to you in a dream, and warned you.

‘Mahmoud, why are making a great mistake’ he told you. ‘Worse, you are persisting in your mistake.’

‘Mahmoud, I love you. That is why I am telling you this.’

‘Mahmoud, you know I am Cyrus the Wise. I ruled my kingdoms with justice and moderation. I was friendly to the Jews. After I conquered Babylon I freed them from their captivity. I allowed them to return to their land. To ancient Israel. I was so good to them that one of their prophets, Isaiah, called me a Messiah, the Lord’s Anointed One.’

‘See how great my wisdom was, Mahmoud? I knew what was the right thing, the wise thing to do. But you are not being wise. Not at all. Because you insist in doing the wrong thing. In making bitter enemies of the Jews – the very people I befriended.

‘That is wrong. It is also foolish, Mahmoud. Consider: the Assyrians, the Pharaohs, Emperor Titus, Hitler, Nasser and many, many others - they all have one thing in common. They all sought to attack and destroy the Jews – and they all have come to grief. See?’

‘Baiting the Jews will not do you or your country any good. Instead, you ought to follow my example. Don’t go on doing the foolish thing. Do the smart thing. And the right thing. Proclaim yourself the friend, the protector of the Jews. Give up your strident Israel-bashing. Be another Cyrus. Concede to them their bit of land – less the illegal settlements - what’s so bad about Israel being a little Jewish Vatican, eh?’

‘The Palestinians. You care for them, I know. I am not asking to forsake them, no. But the best way to help the Palestinians is not to indulge in this pointless rhetoric of yours.’

‘It is just sound and fury, Mahmoud, and you know it. Far from Iran being capable of wiping out the state of Israel, it is Israel which could turn Iran’s cities into many Hiroshimas, if it wanted. The Israelis really do possess nuclear weapons – you don’t.’

‘Mahmoud, listen to me. I hope you heed my warning. Otherwise I predict some very bad happenings....’

Mr President, here the Cyrus of my dream – an awesome, richly apparelled royal figure – faded away. You woke up. Appeared quite stunned. And very puzzled. Then I saw you standing at the podium. Addressing the UN General Assembly, as you will do shortly. But I could not hear what you were saying. Then my own dream dissolved. I woke up. So here I am, telling you about it.’

Mr President, I too, like King Cyrus, am keen you. Pretty daring of me, a poor priest, because you are the West’s favourite whipping boy. (A whipping boy, in case you did not know, is a scapegoat. An innocent one who takes the blame and punishment for someone else’s misdemeanours.) An ogre. But for me you are the joker in the pack, a maverick, an enfant terrible and I kind of like people like that. People who don’t ‘fit in’, like me. We are different, al hamdulillah! Besides, did we not meet and did I not hug you in Tehran, back in June, during the Khomeini conference? How could I forget that, dear President? That is why I do not want you to come to a sticky end.’

‘Mr President, I know what you are going to say. Your country is surrounded by hostile forces. I have got eyes, I look at the map and I see US military bases in Iraq, in Qatar, in Bahrain and in Afghanistan. I don’t see Iranian armies stationed in Cuba or Canada. And the Taleban themselves are the Shia’s sworn enemies. Your borders are not safe. Far from seeking to attack your neighbours, it is foreign powers who strive to undermine your country. They foment dissent and discord inside Iran, they want to overthrow the Islamic revolution, that’s it. And even US intelligence has admitted that you have no intercontinental ballistic missiles. Also, the intentions of the Israeli government towards you are not exactly benign, I grant you that. But President Obama has acted wisely. He demands that Israel freezes the illegal settlements - pretty bold, eh? He has declared he wants peacefully to engage with Iran, not to bomb it and invade it. Isn’t that good? He has saluted your Islamic republic and has extended the hand of friendship to you. For that, for his good will he is being demonised by troglodyte neo-cons and other war mongers in America. So you ought to give nice Barack a chance. As well as giving yourself a big, big one.’

My dream is this, Mr President. When you speak to the UN next, you surprise them. They all expect you to rant and rave about Zionism, holocaust, all that. They actually look forward to that, so they can dismiss you once again as a madman. That would indeed be the dumb thing to do. Instead, you do the smart thing. You tell them that you have decided you want to follow up in King Cyrus’s footsteps. That Iran will be Israel’s friend, not its enemy. You will then disarm your critics and foes at a fell swoop.’

‘Would that mean letting down the Palestinians? On the contrary. You would be serving their interests best. Palestine’s just cause is not helped by posing as a bogey, as a latter-day Haman. Be a Cyrus, instead. The plight of the Palestinians cannot be repaired by military action. Peace will come only through negotiations. Their best friend at the moment is President Barack Obama. Help him to help them, and help yourself and the Islamic republic into the bargain. Be another Cyrus. Help both Jews and Palestinians.’

‘OK. I hear you protest: “Crazy, Mr Priest. Utterly crazy. Totally naive. The worst ‘angelism’. Ridiculous. Unreal. Preposterous. Goes against the grain. I had no such a dream! You don’t really expect me...etcetera.’

I know that. I told you it was a dream, didn’t I?’

‘Dreams, however, can be prophetic.’

Revd Frank Julian Gelli

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