Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Resign, Mr. President

Dear Mr President,

I write to you as a concerned American. Not as a member of a political party, not as a partisan, and not as a voter.

I am a veteran of eight years of service in our armed forces and am a career law enforcement officer. I am a husband and a father, and I care about my country.

I think it is important that I tell you that I didn't vote for you, although I did work as a volunteer for your Father's campaign, at national headquarters, in 1992.

I think, Mr President, that it is time for our country to face a few stark facts about our involvement in Iraq. It should be clear to all, by now, that the military situation in Iraq is getting worse. Indeed, it was reported in the Washington Post today that you, yourself, said that "we aren't winning, we aren't losing" in Iraq. I, and countless thousands, maybe millions, of others appreciate your candor.

I happen to be among those that agree with you in your current assessment, sir. Militarily, the militias and fighters engaging our valiant men-at-arms haven't got a prayer of defeating us on the field of battle, indeed I don't believe that any nation or conceivable group of nations could do that. Our people are brave and well-led, and our forces are strong.

What is glaringly obvious to me, and I hope to you and your advisers, is that our forces cannot create a condition wherein a stable, viable, democratic, multi-ethnic, self-defensible, Iraqi government can emerge, or having emerged, survive.

Iran and Syria are key figures in this arena. It is as plain as the nose on my face that they are aiding and abetting the insurgents, militias, and foreign fighters. I'm sure you know this as well, but, the question is: What can we do to get them to stop? The simple answer is: Nothing.

We are stuck in Iraq, sir. Stuck, with no way to victory as you have described it.

I realize that it is the policy of your administration not to "cut and run". I know that you believe that to leave Iraq, we would be showing weakness. I must disagree. The only real option we have, sir, is to declare victory and go home.

Saddam Hussein is deposed. Iraq has a functioning court system. Iraq must be left to find it's own way, because at this point, our forces only serve as magnets for foreign instigators. Our soldiers and Marines are now fighting over the corpse of the old Iraq which will, with a certainty, eventually become the Islamic Republic of Iraq.

Mr President, our men & women were sent to invade that country at your command. Those men and women believed, as good American soldiers should, that they were sent to war for the safety and security of OUR nation. They were misled. They were misled by you, sir. Misled by your sketchy (and untrue) message about weapons of mass destruction. They were misled by your statements (and by the statements of your senior staff) about fighting terrorism in Baghdad instead of the streets of America. They were misled about AL Qaeda-Iraqi cooperation in the 9/11 attacks. They were misled about the Iraqi military threat. They were misled about Iraq being the central front of the war on terror. Surely, sir, your advisers must have told you what any FBI agent worth his/her salt must know: You can't defeat terrorism with conventional armed forces.

By now, Mr President, nearly three thousand Americans have been killed in Iraq... and it is your fault. As Commander-In-Chief, that responsibility lies on your head. I believe that you owe it to the people of this country, to do the honorable thing: Resign.

Resign, Mr President. Accept your moral obligation to the memory of our dead soldiers. Accept your moral obligation to the families who have lost loved ones. Accept your moral obligation to the countless thousands of dead Iraqi civilians that your invasion has killed. Accept your moral obligation as a world leader.

I have heard that you are a Christian, sir, and I am glad to know it, and as such I have to ask you: Would Christ himself ever have ordained all of this, just to depose a bad man? Would Christ have ordained any of this, noble intentions or not, when it is all based on a tissue of lies and deception? Somehow, I don't think so.

For Shame, sir.

Resign, Mr President. You owe it to our dead. You owe it to our country.

I have been, and will continue, praying for you.

Respectfully,

Gunfighter

(Note: This is the text of a letter I sent to the White House, this morning)

14 comments:

Tasha said...

Wow, GF, very very poignant, well written, and timely. I, and I'm sure many others echo your statements and share similar views of this war. Excellently articulated.

Gunfighter said...

Thanks, Tasha.

This is the text of the email that I sent to the White House this morning.

Anonymous said...

Yes! What Tasha said.

SPU said...

[Slaps table in agreement]

Well done.

Gunfighter said...

Thanks Leslie!

SPU!

Good to see you, David! How have you been?

wst... said...

thank you for your letter. please dont forget outgoing congresswoman cynthia mckinney... h.res1106 currently assigned to the house judiciary committee; which calls for the impeachment of bush, cheney and rice.

Anonymous said...

Well said, Bill. Still, if he resigns and we get Cheney things would not improve.

Hi SPU! [waves]

Grimm said...

My words could not properly describe how well done this post is.

Wonderful job as always.

Janet Kincaid said...

Wow! Wish you'd passed this around before you mailed it. I would have signed it.

Going to Iraq was and will be the biggest mistake this country has ever made in its history. Bush needs to go and he needs to take Cheney with him. Now.

Personally, I think he, Cheney, and Rumsfeld should be indicted and tried for war crimes.

The Thinking Black Man said...

Hey GUNFIGHTER! Well said Brother!

Absolutely perfect! God bless you for actually sending that to him! Let's just hope the NSA doesn't tap your phones and shut down your blog after the Secret Service and FBI finish dusting your letter for prints and body hair!

This war is such a heart breaking event. Bush and company keep using the American body count as a sidebar issue, like it's a samll thing, but for every single American that has dies there are dozens of parents, spouses, children and friends that suffer too. This is a national tragedy.

And not just American lives have been lost, but hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have paid the ultimate price as well. That blood too is on George Bush's hands. Resigning would be just the tip of his debt to society.

Bent Fabric said...

Brilliant! Sheer brilliance!

Gunfighter said...

Thanks all.

I just couldn't hold that back. He will rpobably never see that letter, but what else could I do?

As for dusting the letter for prints... well, my prints are on file all over the government.... as well as a personal security questionaire as long as your arm, so I don't have a lot of secrets.

I realize that if GWB were to go, we'd be stuck with Dick Cheney, but I think that something has to be done.

I know that Dubya won't do whats right, but...

Mr. A said...

Bravo!

soccer mom in denial said...

And Mr. President's response was?