Move over Juan Cole: James Wolcott is vying for the title of Ahmadinejad apologist nonpareil. In his latest post, Wolcott argues that the press is unfairly portraying Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s letter to President Bush as the ramblings of a madman:

Today at Antiwar (which is holding a fundraiser this week: go–give), Justin Raimondo finds much in the letter that the US press is dusting under the welcome mat. (The italicized portions are from Ahmadinejad’s letter.) “September Eleven was a horrendous incident. The killing of innocents is deplorable and appalling in any part of the world. Our government immediately declared its disgust with the perpetrators and offered its condolences to the bereaved and expressed its sympathies.” “By the way, there is not a word about this statement in Western media reports about the letter: instead, we get headlines like ‘Iranian Letter Lambastes Bush,’ ‘Iran Letter Faults U.S., Makes No Nuclear Proposals,’ and ‘A Dead Letter, but Shrewdly Timed. The one major exception was the Chicago Tribune, which ran the head: ‘Let’s Talk, Iranians Tell Bush.’

“I agree with Raimondo,” Wolcott writes. Wolcott compiles a list of Ahmadinejad’s allegedly reasonable arguments, which he finds, at worst, “more than a trifle disingenuous… but disingenuousness isn’t synonymous with lunacy.”

In the course of his Ahmadinejad apologia, Wolcott finds it convenient to do a little under-the-mat dusting of his own. Specifically, he makes no mention of this passage from Ahmadinejad’s letter:

All governments have a duty to protect the lives, property and good standing of their citizens. Reportedly your government employs extensive security protection and intelligence systems — and even hunts its opponents abroad. September eleven was not a simple operation. Could it be planned and executed without coordination with intelligence and security services — or their extensive infiltration? Of course this is just an educated guess. Why have various aspects of the attacks been kept secret?

It looks suspiciously like Ahmadinejad is insinuating that the American government knew about or conspired to commit the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Does this statement fit into Wolcott’s “disingenuous but reasonable” theory? Wolcott himself doesn’t say — he’s too busy tsk tsking the media for not reporting on Ahmadinejad’s crocodile tears. However, in the Raimondo article to which Wolcott links, one finds a defense of Ahmadinejad’s remarks. Raimondo suggests that Ahmadinejad was referring to the Israelis, not the Americans. This is highly unlikely. Read the passage again:

your government employs extensive security protection and intelligence systems… Could [9/11] be planned and executed without coordination with intelligence and security services?

So James, Justin: Care to revise your remarks on Ahmadinejad’s mental balance? Or will I see you at the next screening of Loose Change?