An 11-year-old Iranian boy has sent an e-mail to US President George W. Bush asking him to stop "frightening" Afghan children with the military strikes on their country, a newspaper reported Sunday, cited by AFP.
Tehran Times paper, citing the unnamed boy, said he has sent an "e-mail to the White House" addressed to Bush, calling on him to "have pity on the children in Afghanistan."
"He appealed to Bush to stop frightening them," the English-language newspaper said.
"What is their fault?" the Iranian boy asked in the letter, adding that "innocent Afghan children are the undeserving victims of the US attacks on Afghanistan."
Iran has condemned both the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the United States as well the US and British military strikes on neighboring Afghanistan for sheltering prime suspect Osama bin Laden.
In his speech at the UN General Assembly meeting Saturday, Iran's President Mohammad Khatami proposed the formation of an international coalition to safeguard international peace and stability in the face of the US recent international efforts to unite the world in favor of proceeding with a war against Afghanistan, and then other as-yet unidentified countries, reported Iran's official news agency (IRNA).
President Khatami, who was speaking at the annual gathering of the world heads of states at the UN General Assembly, said that in order to live peaceful lives and have hope for a brighter future, the human beings across the globe need to rely on politicians with broader horizons of thought that favor global cooperation aimed at safeguarding peace and dialogue, rather than war and bloodshed.
He warned that since no country in the world was safe from the terrorism threat, the world’s nations need to seek a way out of such unfavorable conditions by policy-making at highest international political levels.
The Iranian leader said that the Islamic Republic of Iran considers itself as an active member of such a potential coalition and will spare no effort in the context of an international campaign against terrorism either.
Khatami voiced sympathy with the American people in the name of the Iranian nation and government, adding that terrorism is "the chronic disease of our age" whose roots should be sought in the mentality that promotes aggression and the logic that favors resorting to force and physical power in dealing with all problems, and even there, it acts discriminately.
On behalf of the G77 countries, President Khatami also requested he international community to launch a campaign to uproot poverty that an be another cause for both economic crises and aggressive tendencies, including terrorism.
Appreciating the UNICEF's role in promotion of peace and justice at global level, President Khatami expressed doubt whether the world leaders were willing to abide by those humane proposals, leaving judgments in this regard to the future generation.
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
