September 11, 2004 marks the third anniversary of the inhumane terrorist attacks on the United States, which were condemned by members of the international community, including the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Following the attacks in 2001, Iranians spontaneously carried out memorial ceremonies and joined in mourning for the innocent victims of those abominable crimes. This took place notwithstanding American support for Iraq in the eight year war between Iran and Iraq (1980-1988) and the still vivid memory of the US-initiated military coup that toppled Iran's popularly elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953. Unfortunately, what followed was the labeling of Iran as part of an "Axis of Evil" along with North Korea and Iraq.

Equally unfortunate is that today, the policies of the White House have deepened the gap between East and West as well as that between Christianity and Islam. The White House has used the hysteria arising from the attacks both at home and overseas to achieve their own ideological goals based on unilateralism and a "black and white" world view. We believe the policies currently pursued by Washington are against the aspirations of the Founding Fathers of the United States, who sought to establish a free and advanced society. It is this American aspiration that Iranians respect and forms a common bond between us and the American nation.

This historical understanding of the American vision for the future was reflected in an interview by Iranian President Mohammad Khatami with CNN in 1998. In that interview, he sent a message of peace and friendship on behalf of the Iranians to the people of America under the spirit of a dialogue of civilizations.

To Iranians and many other Middle Eastern nations, the Bush Administration’s drastic shift in foreign policy vis-à-vis the world marked the beginning of a new America. The attacks on Afghanistan, the occupation of Iraq, the scandals over the status of prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay and the torture of Iraqis at the Abu Ghraib prison were the consequences of a new American world view that is based on concepts such as "good and evil" and "them and us". Designating three nations as an "Axis of Evil" or remarks such as "you are either with us or against us" bear credence to the assumption that leadership in Washington sees the world from a very limited perspective.

Clearly distinguishing between the policies of the Bush administration and that of the American nation or even the previous US administration, we realize the importance of communication with the "other" America, the one which unlike Bush does not depict war in the Persian Gulf as a necessity.

We Iranian intellectuals condemn the Bush doctrine of "you are either with us, or against us" and deeply sympathize with those Americans who never consider war as the prime option and demand an end to all the current occupations.

We also express our dismay over the failure of a political discourse between our president Khatami and his American counterpart in 1998 which could have led to the overall easing of tensions not only between West and East, but also Christianity and Islam. We believe that dialogue and peaceful interaction among nations could have tightened the rein over many forms of state or non-state terrorism and could perhaps even have prevented war.

The crimes in Istanbul, Riyadh, Baghdad, and elsewhere could have been prevented only if a humane and comprehensive policy had been adopted in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. Unfortunately, the unilateralists in the White House destroyed the historic opportunities that could have led to detente and peace in the region.

The consequence of the Bush administration's Middle East policies has severely distorted the image of America in this region. Today's America is offering us interrogation instead of interaction, monologue instead of dialogue, arrogance instead of communication and techniques of torture instead of democracy. Many Iranians ask themselves whether the America whose secretary of state once voiced apologies for the 1953 coup and the one waging war in the Middle East are one and the same. We cannot answer this question in the affirmative.

Today, the US ambition to implement a "greater Middle East plan" is bringing pain and agony to this region. Hence, we are calling on all peace and democracy loving Americans not to allow this region to fall victim to the ambiguous ambitions of rulers in the White House who do not represent the ideals of the Founding Fathers and the American nation. The aftermath of the invasion of Iraq show that democracy and peace are not what the Bush administration is seeking in this region.

The failure of dialogue has also been destructive to the development of democracy in Iran. Today, the reform movement in Iran is threatened by authoritarianism, totalitarianism and narrow-mindedness. US foreign policy has facilitated the militarization of the political scene in Iran which serves as a setback to Iran's democratic movement.

These totalitarians benefit from the failure of democracy and from violent interventions. The authoritarians are using the security threat-both real and perceived-created by the Bush doctrine to undermine the free press and free elections in Iran. One of the repercussions of the Bush doctrine in Iran has been the vast disqualification of democratic candidates in the parliamentary elections last February. US threats played into the hands of those who eventually managed to monopolize power. Still, Iranians will never allow the wicked dreams of authoritarians to come true.

Hereby we declare that actions that undermine the reform movement of Iran or that violate the right to self-determination for Iraqis, Afghans and Palestinians, or any effort to undermine the struggle for freedom throughout the world will support terrorists, war mongers and dictators. This is true both in the region and globally. Any move against reforms in the Middle East will damage democratic movements and undermine regional peace.

We believe that as long as the peace-seeking American nation fails to take their country back from the war mongers in the White House, our country and sovereignty will also continue to be threatened. It is only through the support of indigenous reform movements in the Middle East-and not through war-that democracy, freedom of the press and open elections can be achieved.

Sept. 11, 2004

Abas zadegan Sayed jafar, Adab Bahaodin, Aghajeri Zohreh, Ahmadi Mohammad ali, Ahmadi Nemat, Ahrari Hamid, Akbari Mohammad ali, Akbarin Mohammad javad, Akrami Ali, Alavitabar Ali reza, Alizadeh naeini Ali, Amini Asadollah, Amoli moghadam Naser, Ansarirad Hossein, Arab sorkhi Fayzollah, Arab zadeh Hassan, Arbabi Hassan, Arghandehpour Karim, Asefi Hamid, Asgari Davood, Ayazi Mohammad ali, Azadi Mohammad, Badi zadegan Seyad akbar, Bakhtiarnejad Parvin, Baniasadi Mohammad hossein, Bastani Hossein, Baste negar Mohammad, Bazargan Abolfazl, Bazargan Abdolali, Bazargan Fereshte, Bazargan Mohammad navid, Bazargani Kamalodin, Behzadi Mohammad, Bitaraf Safa, Borhani Rahmatollah, Dadfar Mohammad, Dadkhah Sayed mohammad ali, Dadmehr Rasoul, Dase Hasel, Davani Mosaieb, Davoodi mohajer Fariba, Derayati Mostafa, Dordkeshan Mostafa, Doroudi Saied, Doroudian Mohammad hossein, Ebadi Shirin, Emadi Mohammad jafar, Eshfagh Morteza, Eslami Yadollah, Esmaeili Hamid, Farahani Majid, Ghabel Ahmad, Ghabel Hadi, Ghaffari Masoud, Ghaffarzadeh Saeid,Ghani Mehdi, Gharavi Ali asghar, Gharavi Ali reza, Gholizadeh Rahmangholi, Ghouchani Mohammad, Ghyasi Hojatollah, Golafra Bijan, Golani Jafar, Govaraei Fateme, Hadizadeh Ali asghar, Hadizadeh yazdi Hadi, Hadian Naser,Haghighatjou Fateme, Haj Ketabi Ali, Hajarian Saeid, Hakimi Abolfazl, Hakimi Abdolkarim, Hakimi Majid, Hariri Hossein, Hashemi Naser, Hedayati Sayed hashem, Hekmat Ali, Hendi Ali reza, Houshmand Ehsan, Iyzadi Mostafa, Jalaeipor Hamid reza, Jalalzadeh Jalal, Jamshidi Farideh, Javadi hesar Mohammad sadegh, Kadivar Mohsen, Kambouzia Jafar, Kargosha Rahman, Karshenas Majid, Kazemian Morteza, Khalili ardakani Mohammad hossein, Khatami Sayed mohammad reza, Khoram Amir, Khosh mohamadi Esmail, Khosravi Homayoun, Kianoush rad Mohammad, Komijani Faraj, Kord pour Khosro, Kord pour Masoud, Koulaei Elahe, Ladoni Masoud, Loghmanian Hossein, Madani Saeid, Mansourian Khosro,Masmouei Reza, Mazrouei Rajab ali, Mellati Fahime, Meskin Mostafa, Mirkhani Amir, Mirshmse shahshahani Abolfazl, Mirzadeh Vahid, Mirzaei Allahkaram, Mofidi Badrosadat, Moghadam Morteza, Mohagheghi Mohsen, Mohammadi Narges, Mohammadi ardehali Mohammad, Moienfar Ali akbar, Mojahed Hossein, Molaei Yousef, Momeni Mahmoud, Montazeri Ahmad, Mortazi langroudi Marzieh, Moslehi Abas, Mostafavi Leyla, Mostafavi Mostafa, Mozafar Mohamad javad, Nabavi Sayed ahmad, Naeimpor Mahmoud, Naraghi Hassan, Nekou rouh Mahmoud, Nekoufar Mohammad taghi, Nouhi Sayed hamid, Nourbakhsh Manouchehr, Nouri Kasra, Omrani Mahmoud, Peya Hossein, Paya Ali, Peyman Habibollah, Payman Majid, Pedram Masoud, Piran Parviz, Pishbin Mahmoud, Pour azizi Saeid, Rabani Mohammad sadegh, Rafiei Hossein, Raies tousi Reza, Rajaeian Mohammad javad,Rajaeie Ali reza, Rasouli Mohammad sadegh, Razavi faghieh Saeid, Reza khani Bahman, Rezaei Ahad, Sabaghian Hashem, Saber Firouzeh, Sadaei Mohammad ali, Sadr Reza, Sadre hajsaiedjavadi Ahmad, Saeie Ahmad, Sahabi Ezatollah, Sahabi Fraydoun, Saharkhiz Eisa, Sayed abadi Ali asghar, Saifzadeh Sayed mohammad, Sajadi Daryoush, Salavati Fazlolallah, Saleh jalali Reza, Samimi Keyvan, Samti Hadi, Sarchami Mohammad, Sarikhani Ali reza, Sedighi Nader, Sepehr Masoud, Shah hosaini Hossein, Shakeri Ebrahim, Shamsolvaezein Mashallah, Shanechi Mohammad, Shariati Saeid, Sharif Mohammad, Shirzad Ahmad, Shokri Kazem, Sinaei Vahid, Soltani AbodolFatah, Soleymani Behyar, Taheri Akbar, Taheri Mohammad, Tayarani Amir, Tajernia Ali, Tajik Abdoreza, Tajzade Sayed mostafa, Takafoli Gholam hossein, Taleghani Azam, Taleghani Tahere, Taleghani Hesam, Taleghani Narges, Tanha Mostafa, Tavakoli Khaled, Tavalaei Majid, Tavassoli Gholam abbas, Tavassoli Mohammad, Tavassoli Mohammad reza, Tehrani Reza, Vaez abaei Mehdi, Valibaik Bagher, Valibaik Jalil, Varpaei Rasoul, Yahyaei Ali farid, Yazdi Ebrahim, Yeganli Naser, Yousefian Reza, Zahed Fayaz, Zeid abadi Ahmad, Zaman Hossein, Zamani Mohammad ebrahim, Zandinia Parviz,Zarghami Aliashraf,Zarghami Freydoun,Zerehsaz Jamal, Zohdi Mohammad reza