Posted August 29, 2003
Special Edition

"Ledeen on the Run"

I guess nobody checks anything anymore. I have never "scored" any money, nor did David Frum ever say I did. He only suggested that I SHOULD be rewarded, since I wrote that Osama bin Laden and some of his colleagues were in Iran, long before al Qaeda leaders were uncovered there.

And that's pretty much the accuracy level of the Gancarski slime, culminating with a really obnoxious lie, namely that I advocate military action against Iran. I never said it, indeed I have written against it both in my book The War Against the Terror Masters and in dozens of articles. To put this as gently as I can, it is not possible to read my essays on Iran and then say I am in favor of military action. Either Gancarski hasn't read any of that material, or he chose to lie about it nonetheless.

A few other matters: to say that State Department officials gainsay what President Bush says is not a conspiracy theory, but the simple truth. Bush said we won't have bilateral talks with North Korea, Armitage said we will. Bush said Iran is an oppressive regime, Armitage called it a "democracy." Nor is it "conspiracy theory" to say that it is foolish to expect Iran to hand over top terrorist leaders when they are manifestly supporting terrorism (according to the State Department itself). It's just common sense.

Powell may indeed be right to refuse any form of support to the Iranian people, but I've asked him some serious questions. Instead of dealing with those questions, Mr Gancarski responds by concocting my desire for military action against Iran, and then attacking that.

He owes your readers an apology.

~ Michael Ledeen

Editor's Note :

Mr. Gancarski replies to this letter in today's column.