Wednesday, September 28, 2005

President George W. Bush
1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:
and your family are well. I have thought long and hard
about how to express my thoughts and allegiance to you, sir.
I would like this letter to both convey my support for you
and my concerns as a citizen. This letter concerns three problems:
the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,
the current recovery efforts in the Gulf Coast,
and the conflicts in Darfur and elsewhere in Africa.
I supported your decisions to move
in a robust fashion against the terrorist threats
wherever they occurred. Although in private,
I questioned the wisdom of going into Iraq
and Afghanistan when we did, I kept these concerns
between my parents and me. However, having entered
into this war, I became a staunch defender of your foreign policy vis-à- vis
counter-terrorism and the peace
initiatives in Palestine and Israel.
Now, I trust you and our commanders to make the best
decisions regarding how we are to withdraw our forces
from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Perhaps more immediate, if not more important now, is this
talk of
changing the Posse Comitatus Act (18 USC 1385).
While it is important to be able to bring recovery efforts
into a unified command, I do not see that bringing in the military
into a state in a way that may threaten states’
rights and individual Constitutional rights is
the appropriate response. There are dangerous implications
that threaten our very republic. Already, we have a
Department of Homeland Defense. We have FEMA.
We have to see to making government work more efficiently,
and I think that creating more layers of government,
adding on more federal involvement by a
blanket authorization of the military to act is
NOT the right answer.
Third in my missive to you now, sir, is
my very real concern that the crises in Sudan,
Uganda, the Congo, Nigeria, have gone scarcely noticed,
and perhaps quite naturally been eclipsed by the recent disasters
of the hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
As devastating as the Gulf Coast troubles have been,
we still have to attend to Darfur if only for these reasons: first,
Darfur does not enjoy the same ability to bounce back from disaster
as do we United States of America.
Secondly, our nation still guards the role
of peacekeeper and big brother in this global paradigm, even as this
role may be shared with the European Union, the
Organization of African States, the various military
and economic alliances such as the G-8 and NATO,
and the United Nations. We must not
vacate our responsibility as a super power
and a defender of freedom and human rights
in the global community.
with proper respect to your authority, yet
still making clear how very important they are not
only to me but to many Americans and even others
beyond our borders who are affected by your decisions.
I ask you to consider these points.
And I pray that God continues to bless you,
and guide you in your role as our President and Commander-in-Chief.
Thank you sir for all you’ve done for us Americans,
for us in the military, and for the veterans of this military.
God bless America!

Mr. President, sir, I hope that I have been able
to convey these concerns clearly and succinctly,

Sincerely,

cafegroundzero