By James Donahue

When Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke to the United Nations General Assembly in New York last year he called for world unity between people of all creeds and religious faith. He gave almost the same message when he addressed the people over a British television station on Christmas Day.

Since then there has been much editorial commentary claiming hypocrisy on the part of Ahmadinejad. After all, this man has been accused of making anti-Semitic statements including saying the Holocaust story is nothing more than a myth.

Israeli leaders, who have laid claims that Iran is busy building a nuclear bomb and may become a threat to the stability of the Middle East and the world if the project isn’t stopped either politically or by force, labeled the message as “a sick and twisted irony.” They said this within hours of launching a massive air strike killing hundreds of Muslim men, women and children in the occupied region of Palestine.

The Israeli ambassador to Britain, Ron Prosor, said converts to Christianity in Iran “face the death penalty.” Is this true or merely another myth designed to turn sentiment against Iran?

Ahmadinejad went out of his way on the holiest holiday of the Christian and Jewish faiths to make this speech, sending congratulations to “the followers of Abrahamic faiths, especially the followers of Jesus Christ.” He said the problems throughout the world have been caused by  nations that fail to follow the teachings of the Prophets, including Jesus.

He said God created all humans “with the ability to reach the heights of perfection” and called for Muslims and Christians to work together to create a world of “love, brotherhood and justice” for mankind.

When we think about it, who would debate Ahmadinejad’s message? Who could even dispute his statement that Christ would not have approved the actions of the United States, which he described as “bullying, ill-tempered and expansionist powers” that brought about the unnecessary wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Indeed, the Israeli and U.S. leadership has gone out of its way throughout the years of the Bush Administration to demonize President Ahmadinejad, constantly accusing him and his government of building up a military and developing nuclear arms with an aim at becoming a powerful military force in the world.

While the United States has had a history of trouble with Iran, beginning with the overthrow of the Shaw by a radical Muslim group lead by the late Ayatollah Khomeini and the capture of 370 American workers in the U.S. Embassy in 1977. Even though all of the Americans were released unharmed, the sentiment was so strong that when Iraq’s Saddam Hussein went to war against Iran, the U.S. helped arm the Iraqi forces.

But that was then and this is now. Iran is, indeed, growing to be a powerful influence in the Middle East. Iran also has discovered new rich deposits of oil under its desert lands that could help supply the needs of the world for years. Thus that country has attracted the attention of both Russia and China, two large nations that are as interested in securing a tap on that oil supply as the United States should be.

So when President Ahmadinejad calls for peace and world unity, why should be not greet his message with a sense of gratitude and hope? Why should be trust the accusations by the same people that lied to us about Saddam Hussein’s so-called hidden weapons of mass destruction? These were the same people that took us to war in Afghanistan to capture Osama bin Laden, the so-called master mind of the 9-11 attacks on American soil. But we never captured bin Laden. And we now appear to be locked in the grip of a prolonged war in Afghanistan that cannot be won.

What is the truth about these matters? Why should we think President Ahmadinejad is a bad man who cannot be trusted? We think President-elect Barack Obama may be right when he offers to open dialogue with a world leader like Ahmadinejad and find out just what makes him tick. When the truth is known, we might all be pleasantly surprised.