c/o The Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality

PO Box 23202, Richmond, VA 23223 l Ph: 804.247-3731 l Fax: 804.332.5225 l E-mail: DefendersFJE@hotmail.com l www.DefendersFJE.org

July 11, 2007

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Tehran, Iran

Dear Mr. President,

Greetings to you, sir. I hope this letter finds you well and in good health and spirits.

In just a few days I will be bringing a group of six anti-war activists to Iran for an 11-day tour of your country. Our group, called the People's Peace Delegation to Iran, is making this trip in the hope that we can help prevent the U.S. government from launching a war against the Iranian people.

Mr President, I am writing this note to ask if you might possibly have time to meet with our delegation.

The People's Peace Delegation to Iran is being sponsored by the Virginia Anti-War Network (VAWN), a coalition of 22 local peace and justice organizations in the U.S. state of Virginia, and The Richmond Defender, a community newspaper that serves poor and working people here in Virginia. (Please see www.vawn.org and www.DefendersFJE.org.)

By traveling through Iran and learning first-hand about its peoples and cultures, we hope to be able to return home and better explain to others here that the lies being told about Iran, its people and its government by the U.S. news media and the U.S government are just that – lies. And, just as the American people were lied to about the reasons for the U.S. invasion of Iraq, we are being lied to again about the reasons for the escalating tensions between our two countries.

Sir, last Nov. 29 you wrote an “Open Letter to the American People,” in which you expressed your desire and the desire of the Iranian people for peace and friendship between our two countries. This letter was not well publicized here in the U.S., but it was mentioned in The New York Times newspaper and was also published in full by the CNN news network.

I was able to read your letter and was very impressed by what you wrote. It is a major reason why we are making this journey.

Almost all the world's people want peace. I say “almost,” because it is clear to the whole world that there are certain people in Washington, D.C., on Wall Street and in the Pentagon, who do not want peace. They want domination, control and the power to exploit the world.

But most of the worlds' peoples deeply and sincerely desire peace, especially those who have known war.

However, as your letter so clearly expressed, for peace to be lasting, to be real, it must be based on justice. Otherwise, it can be the peace, not of happiness and joy, but the bitter peace of the graveyard.

We also believe that true peace in the Middle East must be based first of all on justice for the Palestinian people. You suggested that all Palestinians be allowed to return to their ancestral lands, and that a referendum be held to determine the future of that land. What a reasonable proposal - that the present conflict be resolved through peaceful and democratic means. But of course, that proposal was not promoted or publicized by the mass news media here in the United States.

Mr. President, the six people in our delegation have all been active opponents of the U.S invasion and occupation of Iraq. We have marched and rallied, protested and been arrested. And we are not alone. According to the latest polls, some 70 percent of the people in the United States want the U.S. to get out of Iraq. If the U.S. were a true democracy, the government would listen to the will of the people. But here we do not have a true democracy, a “government of the people, by the people and for the people.” Instead, we have a government of the wealthy, by the corporations and for the exploiters.

To those who have never known pain and suffering, those words may seem mere rhetoric. But for the survivors of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and the inhuman and deliberate official neglect that compounded that disaster; for the tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers in Iraq who have been wounded and traumatized in an unjust war; for the millions of people of color who every day endure racism and oppression; for the poor and working people struggling to provide for their families, their children, these words ring true. For us, there is no future in more wars. Our fight is here – for justice.

Now, with the increasing escalation of threats against the Islamic Republic of Iran – an unjust war of aggression that would be fought in our name, with the blood of our sons and daughters and paid for by our tax money – we feel compelled to do something more.

So we are coming to Iran. Our delegation is scheduled to arrive in Tehran on Friday, July 19, and leave on Monday, July 30. We will be traveling to several cities with the Iran Doostan Tours agency. At present, we are scheduled to be in Tehran on July 19 and July 27, 28 and 29.

Mr. President, we are not asking for a meeting with you because we think our delegation is important. Actually, we wish we were important, because maybe then our visit would have more impact. But we are determined to return home and work against the attempts to present the people of Iran and its government as enemies of the people of the U.S. Meeting with you and exchanging views would help us in our attempts to explain to the American people that it is not the Islamic Republic of Iran, its government or its people, that is the threat to world peace. No, that threat is much closer to us, right here in the United States.

I apologize for already taking up so much of your time. We understand that the president of any country is extremely busy, and much more so for the leader of a country being threatened by the world's number one aggressor.

We will certainly understand completely if a meeting is not possible, and we wish you every success in your efforts to defend Iran from attack, whether military, economic, political or cultural.

In the Struggle for Freedom, Justice and Equality,

Phil Wilayto

Organizer, People's Peace Delegation to Iran

Editor, The Richmond Defender

Founding member, the Virginia Anti-War Network