To the Editor:

Re "Iran's President Criticizes Bush in Letter to American People" (news article, Nov. 30):

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has done it again.

After his earlier statement to "wipe Israel off the map" and his questioning whether the Holocaust occurred, now, in his letter to the American people, he accuses American Jews of controlling "a substantial portion of the banking, financial, cultural and media sectors."

In other words, classic anti-Semitic conspiracy notions right out of the "Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion."

It could all be viewed as the sayings of a lunatic if not for the fact that Iran is getting closer and closer to developing a nuclear weapon, which will threaten not only Israel but also the whole region.

President Ahmadinejad's open extremism should be a gift to the nations of the world to wake them up before it is too late. So far, however, there has been much rhetoric at the United Nations but little action.

What will it take for the international community to get serious? Will we once again say the world slept while ...?