Judy Evans wrote: "It would be good if people mainly linked to articles ..." For the record, I am not aware of the letter being available on the Internet. What I posted was sent to me by a friend in Iran. Regarding the letter, I find it terribly unnerving. It signals a desire by the Iranians to frame political issues in religious terms. As Lawrence pointed out, many Westerners will sympathize with large parts of the letter but I suspect they will overlook its most important implication: the Iranian leaders understand the current political crisis in apocalyptic religious terms and therefore see its resolution in similar terms. The Iranian authorities are not interested in being responsible members of a world filled with liberal democratic states but understand themselves as setting right the injustices of the world according to the revealed Word. To be clear, the Iranian authorities are not thinking in terms of a nation-state but rather a people of God called to establish justice wherever in the world there is injustice. And while nuclear weapons may be prohibited by the Koran, they are permitted if used to bring about justice. I have no doubt the Iranians are working very hard on developing nuclear weapons and that they understand these weapons, not as defensive, but as tools for establishing God's justice on the world. The US is at a terrible disadvantage in this conflict because the Iranians are not acting like a nation-state, and their interests are not those of a traditional nation-state. As Rice made clear, this letter does not provide any grounds for the US to act on, but this only shows how asymmetrical the conflict is. The interests of the Iranians are religious while those of the US are political. It would be foolhardy to think that this is a conflict of US-making and that it is being managed by the US. Rather, it has been provoked and is being managed by the Iranian leaders, forcing a greatly weakened and exposed US into acting in such a way that will serve Iran's strategic interests. My guess is that the people who understand this best, and therefore understand best the threat, are the Israelis. Sincerely, Phil Enns Toronto, ON ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html