UNITED NATIONS - Iran's president urged the American people in an open letter Wednesday to demand the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and reject what he called the Bush administration's "blind support" for Israel and its "illegal and immoral" actions in fighting terrorism.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, waves to the media, during a meeting with his Iraqi counterpart, Jalal Talabani, unseen, in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2006. [AP]

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's letter to "Noble Americans," which was distributed by Iran's mission to the United Nations, also accused Bush of governing by "coercion, force and injustice."

Ahmadinejad appealed to the American people to work to reverse the US leader's policies, and called on the Bush administration and the new Democratic-controlled Congress to heed the results of the recent midterm elections.

US State Department spokesman Tom Casey called the letter "something of a public relations stunt or a public relations gesture" by the Iranian government, and said it was a shame Ahmadinejad did not allow people in his own country the opportunity to have a free and open debate of political ideas and views.

Ahmadinejad urged Bush to put the United States' "wealth and power in the service of peace, stability, prosperity and the happiness of all peoples through a commitment to justice and respect for the rights of all nations, instead of aggression and war."

In a message to Democrats, he said: "You will also be held to account by the people and by history."

"But if the approach remains the same, it would not be unexpected that the American people would similarly reject the new electoral winners," he said, adding that the recent elections did not reflect a victory but rather "the failure of the current administration's policies."

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