‘Dear Saddam’ E-Mail Gets an Answer
A software engineer who wanted to promote cooperation between Iraq and the United States in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks apparently has a new pen pal: Saddam Hussein.
Christopher Love, 43, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that he had e-mailed the Iraqi president, calling on him to set aside his differences with Washington and join a U.S.-led coalition against “terrorism, hunger and strife in every country.”
Iraq has been at odds with the United States since before the 1991 Persian Gulf War, which ended with Baghdad’s defeat and the imposition of “no-fly” zones over Iraq that are patrolled by U.S. military planes.
But on Oct. 18, Love said, he found an e-mail purporting to be from Hussein. Love called the message “a warm and genuine response” that expressed condolences for the victims of the attacks and voiced the blessing: “God has created us and to him we return. May God give you a long life.”
Love said he had sent his e-mail to the Iraqi News Agency, which agreed to pass it on to Hussein.
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