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I’m certainly
not Ramsey Clark, former US Attorney General, former Pres. Carter, or advisors Henry
Kissinger, Brent Scowcroft, former Pentagon five star generals or half a dozen other
patriotic Americans who have testified in front of Congress or by published
essay voicing their concern and objection to the rapid intent of the Bush-Cheney
administration to proceed to another war.
But I am a tax-paying, voting citizen with two just-grown children who I
continually harp about their democracy privileges and responsibility. So I do what we all must do, from time
to time, or consistently: set a good example, speak up, express my opinion
directly to the people who have been elected and sworn an oath of office to
represent little ol’ me. Below I’m
sharing my letter that I just emailed to all the names listed here plus the VP,
via Congress.org. Writing the
letter took longer, but the free emails took less than ten minutes of my time. I am mailing my hardcopy to the White
House, though I don’t expect a reply anytime soon. There seems to be a rush this week, and I hope it doesn’t
have anything to do with the Israelis firing into a crowd of mostly civilian
Palestinians, prompting the promise of swift revenge by Hamas, a suspicious
provoke-and-respond tactic that could accelerate the danger in the Middle East
for the convenience of the war planners.
Genuinely, and
without shame, I urge each of you who has this voice, this opportunity, to use
it now, whether your vote cancels out mine or not, to contribute your opinion
now while you can, when it’s important to do so. As they say, sometimes half of success is just showing
up. Sometimes a healthy democracy
just requires good people using their voices at the right time. Regards, Karen Watters Cole October 7, 2002 President George W. Bush 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Washington, DC 20006 Subject: Authorizing
Military Force Against Iraq HJ Resolution 114 & SJ Resolution 45 Dear President Bush: I believe that sometimes a nation must go to war. I believe in my country, and know that it is today unrivaled in
military might, capable of wielding a “big stick” appropriate to its so-called superpower
status. I know my country, under various presidents both good and bad, has
taken up arms over the course of its history that were sometimes justified and
sometimes clearly not, or at best questionable. I know we have done things we never should have and done
things no one thought possible, but we must always know the whole story. I believe in my heart that the people of America, whether native born
or newly sworn citizens, will not hide from the ugly face of war if it becomes
necessary. We will not fail the
task. Indeed, we are a great
nation, because we are a composite nation of many minds. When we are united, it is more powerful
that many minds and voices stand together. This is almost sacred, and must not be compromised. But as a great nation with unrivaled capability in today’s world, we
also have a greater burden, one that we must assume without being reminded by
others. We must act from within to
use this great power, our military, our economic, and our political power, for
the right reasons, not only in a just cause, but the right reasons at the right
time in a just cause. We must not proceed to that final commitment without determining why,
how and what we are about to do.
We must not proceed and act in a way that tells the rest of the world to
“do as we say, not as we do”. We
must exercise this great power and capability with matching sense of
responsibility and stewardship. If we determine that the sovereign leader, though despotic, a moral
renegade and scourge on his own people, indeed has the intent to do great harm
not just to his own people but to others and particularly to us, then we must
proceed. But it is critical in
today’s technological world divided by cultures that are modernizing and those
that are not, that we distinguish what is likely and what is probable before we
use the military and political power we hold, and distinguish what is likely to
happen and what is probably going to happen afterwards. The consequences of global vigilantism may unleash more than just a
cultural war, a world war of civilizations. It may also become the beginning of the end of what many
Americans think is an unending time of dominance in history. Rome didn’t realize it had overreached,
neither did Napoleon. There is
much at stake here. If we determine through a disciplined process that a rogue sovereign
leader is not just a threat to his own people, but an impending threat to us,
then we must also logically and openly declare our intentions on Syria, which
we already know has the same weapons and harbors terrorists and is not our
ally, or explain why Israel has been allowed to violate UN resolutions for
forty years without shaming the UN to not be the League of Nations on its
behalf. Three questions must be answered honestly: Why Hussein? Why now? What
else? Do not commit the great heart and muscle of the American public to
something it will regret later, or take us down a path that will bring more
ruin than what you dare imagine. Great nations act not just with precision and might, but with
great caution and wisdom. Before
we proceed to change the way we have fought wars, to join the list of others
who have struck first, let us know that this battle will be honorable for the
families who will bury their young, for the lives that will be forever changed
in both the predictable and unforeseen consequences of war that will surely
come, after you and these others have left office. We need to believe in a cause that all our citizens, in and out of
uniform, can hold onto when the result is not what we imagined, or the recovery
is much longer and worse to complete, or when a loss of integrity and authority
propels us to question again in turbulent and painful rebellion, what was the
intent of the Founding Fathers and the promise of the Constitution that these
life and death, nation-defining decisions would be made with our consent, by the
people and for all the people. Sincerely, Karen Watters Cole Gresham, Oregon Cc: Rep. Earl
Blumenauer, Sen. Gordon Smith, Sen. Ron Wyden |
