In the wake of President Obama's New Year's greetings to the repressive Iranian regime, Iranian advocates of democracy sent an open letter to Obama which presents the reasons why Obama hurt the cause of liberty and the interest of the United States by delivering the message that he did.

The letter begins by telling Obama that the holiday he refers to is one that the Iranian regime has tried to eradicate: "you should have been informed that the Islamic regime has stated that Norooz must be replaced by an Islamic holyday. The only reason this agenda is not fulfilled is because of the great resistance of the Iranian people."

The letter goes on to state that Obama does not care about human rights violations that are being committed by a "barbaric regime."

In fact, these Iranians praise Israel's President Shimon Peres who sent greetings to the Iranian people and not to their oppressors. The letter says, "Mr. President I would like to suggest that you read the Norooz greeting of President Shimon Peres to the Iranian people. Such message brings us hope in dark times like this and reassures that our struggle is not left unnoticed. As history is our witness Iranians will topple this regime to establish a secular democracy."

To see the different world views between democracy advocates and Obama, one needs to go no further than Obama's favorite think tank which sharply criticizes Peres for the thrust of his message. In Obama's world standing up for human rights and opposing evil is not the order of the day.

For a defense of Peres' message see the Weekly Standard's "Shimon Peres Teaches Barak Obama A Thing Or Two"