posted on October 22, 2001 10:42:20 AM new
Saddam Shows Yank
Poison Pen
By DON SINGLETON
Daily News Staff Writer
Saddam Hussein wrote an angry letter to a surprised American who had e-mailed the Iraqi tyrant after the World Trade Center attack.
Software engineer Christopher Love, 44, of Willow Grove, Pa., sent the e-mail to the "Butcher of Baghdad" via the official Iraqi News Agency last week.
Love said he was moved to write by two events — the attack on the twin towers and the death in Iraq of a friend's father.
Would you want this man to be your pen pal?
"The image of planes flying into populated skyscrapers in our largest city along with government buildings will be everlasting in my mind," Love wrote.
He also cited a friend's visit to his dying father in Iraq a few months ago. "He could have been saved with penicillin, but none was available," Love wrote.
"Something must change. Someone must lead the charge for human rights. ... I believe that you, Mr. President, would be the likely candidate."
Saddam — who is suspected by some of having aided the hijackers — is an unlikely candidate to lead the charge for human rights. He heads the U.S. list of nations supporting terrorism, gassed an entire village that had defied him, invaded and looted Kuwait before being chased out by a U.S.-led coalition, and is thought to be developing nuclear, biological and germ-warfare weapons.
Despite the sympathetic tone of the Love letter, he got a rocket back from Saddam.
"Do you know that your administration has been promoting terrorism against us, calling for ending our regime by force and allocating funds for this purpose?" the Iraqi news agency quoted Saddam as asking in response to the letter.
Saddam also accused the U.S. of "committing acts of genocide against Iraq by imposing the 11 years of sanctions that led to the killing of 1.5 million people."
Love was taken aback by Saddam's response.
"I looked at the response on the news agency's Web site — it was quite long, and I'm still trying to absorb it," Love said yesterday. "I'm amazed that he actually wrote back."
Love says he hasn't received an e-mail yet, but he believes it was sent to his computer at work, which he can't get to until tomorrow.
"I'm behind our government — I'm not going to jump on the Iraqi bandwagon," he said, "but the response is enlightening. I'm thinking of forwarding it to the White House and asking President Bush for his opinion."
