An open letter to President Bush
President Bush,
I am ashamed for you; I am ashamed of you. Over and over, you have claimed that you are on the side of right, the side of God, and over and over, you have proven through your actions and speech..and even your inaction..that you are on no one's side but your own. Because of you, and because of your proponents ideas and agendas, more people have died than my mind can grasp or quantify accurately in print. You led us into a war that wasn't necessary, by holding up "righteous" hands, full of a false assurance of retribution and an impossible security for a nation that was too wounded to know better. Out one side of your mouth, you talk about stamping out evil and making our nation strong and safe, and out the other, you talk about tax cuts for the rich and advantages for large corporations, despite what those things might do to the availability of funds for the elderly, poor, and needy. Exactly how does denying people prescriptions and medical help strengthen our country? Explain to me how drilling for oil in our last pristine wilderness will help keep us safe? Tell me, Mr. President, what phenomenal good your constant vacationing has done our great country?
This is what I see, and it is not good:
Based on false information, and your say-so, our well-meaning troops killed and are killing large numbers of Iraqi people, both by direct violence and by simple interference. Our troops are dying, and, when they are allowed to come home at all, are coming home mentally and emotionally scarred and battered. The "help" our country is supposed to be giving to the Iraqis is not moving forward, and is not doing much good, but is doing substantial harm..both there, and at home. To date, no compelling evidence has been established that we should ever have begun this war at all, and our children and fathers and daughters are still over there..on your say-so.
When the tsunami hit Indonesia last year, you fought for all you were worth, not to send aid of any meaningful kind to the part of the world that obviously needed it most. It was not important to you, and I can't help but wonder how things might have been different for those suffering, if you had sent help...but, of course, our troops were in Iraq..where you put them. (because, of course, expanding the arm of democracy is so much more important than saving lives)
Now, when a true disaster hit us once again, instead of rising to the occasion like the Commander-in-Chief you ought to be, you ignored the problem until your comfortable vacation was over. Instead of stirring yourself to organize relief efforts before the situation overwhelmed local officials, you left it all in the hands of incompetent underlings who you knew were not up to the task. When our troops were sorely needed to combat disaster on the home front, they were unavailable because they were on the other side of the world; we were left naked and floundering, and to compund it, you waited days to begin even the smallest effort to organize what aid we could get. And when the reality of your failure and incompetence began to dawn at last on the sleepy and stunned public, you quickly identified the others who had made mistakes in this mess and began to point the finger at them. Of course it isn't you, sir, it never is, is it?
And today, people begin to identify their dead, and you divert the media to cover the outrageous rise in gas prices. People die, and you get a photo-op. People suffer, and you only wonder how to spin it so your popularity will rise. A woman asks you, in an interview, about how much has gone wrong in this horrible turn of events, and you look at her blankly and ask "What hasn't gone right?".
I am ashamed of you, and I am angry that you would continue to claim Christianity as your guide, when none of what you have done, or failed to do, has ever been following in the steps of Jesus. I am not what you would call a great proponent of Christianity, but I believe enough to understand that Jesus would never have gone into a "holy-war", nor demanded that people kill and die for abstract ideas and foggy reasons, backed by hate and bigotry and fear. Jesus would not put monetary gain above the health and well-fare, indeed the life, of anyone. And Jesus would never have spent a leisurely vacation in a nice, clean, suit, eating large, luxurious, meals, while people he could reach were drowning, starving, and dying. I think it is safe to say that the savior of all mankind would have flown into the heart of the worst of it, rolled up his sleeves, and begun healing the sick and feeding the starving. But not you, your sleeves are clean and neat and nicely pressed, but your hands are covered in blood.
You are not my President. You are just the lying politician I have to put up with until the mercy of time finally ends your unforgivable term in office. The day of your original inauguration, I defended you to my husband, saying that even though we didn't vote for you, we should try to support you as the leader of this country...I do not defend you now...I will never defend you again.
There is no defense for you.
With all my heart,
Weepingmoonblue
I am ashamed for you; I am ashamed of you. Over and over, you have claimed that you are on the side of right, the side of God, and over and over, you have proven through your actions and speech..and even your inaction..that you are on no one's side but your own. Because of you, and because of your proponents ideas and agendas, more people have died than my mind can grasp or quantify accurately in print. You led us into a war that wasn't necessary, by holding up "righteous" hands, full of a false assurance of retribution and an impossible security for a nation that was too wounded to know better. Out one side of your mouth, you talk about stamping out evil and making our nation strong and safe, and out the other, you talk about tax cuts for the rich and advantages for large corporations, despite what those things might do to the availability of funds for the elderly, poor, and needy. Exactly how does denying people prescriptions and medical help strengthen our country? Explain to me how drilling for oil in our last pristine wilderness will help keep us safe? Tell me, Mr. President, what phenomenal good your constant vacationing has done our great country?
This is what I see, and it is not good:
Based on false information, and your say-so, our well-meaning troops killed and are killing large numbers of Iraqi people, both by direct violence and by simple interference. Our troops are dying, and, when they are allowed to come home at all, are coming home mentally and emotionally scarred and battered. The "help" our country is supposed to be giving to the Iraqis is not moving forward, and is not doing much good, but is doing substantial harm..both there, and at home. To date, no compelling evidence has been established that we should ever have begun this war at all, and our children and fathers and daughters are still over there..on your say-so.
When the tsunami hit Indonesia last year, you fought for all you were worth, not to send aid of any meaningful kind to the part of the world that obviously needed it most. It was not important to you, and I can't help but wonder how things might have been different for those suffering, if you had sent help...but, of course, our troops were in Iraq..where you put them. (because, of course, expanding the arm of democracy is so much more important than saving lives)
Now, when a true disaster hit us once again, instead of rising to the occasion like the Commander-in-Chief you ought to be, you ignored the problem until your comfortable vacation was over. Instead of stirring yourself to organize relief efforts before the situation overwhelmed local officials, you left it all in the hands of incompetent underlings who you knew were not up to the task. When our troops were sorely needed to combat disaster on the home front, they were unavailable because they were on the other side of the world; we were left naked and floundering, and to compund it, you waited days to begin even the smallest effort to organize what aid we could get. And when the reality of your failure and incompetence began to dawn at last on the sleepy and stunned public, you quickly identified the others who had made mistakes in this mess and began to point the finger at them. Of course it isn't you, sir, it never is, is it?
And today, people begin to identify their dead, and you divert the media to cover the outrageous rise in gas prices. People die, and you get a photo-op. People suffer, and you only wonder how to spin it so your popularity will rise. A woman asks you, in an interview, about how much has gone wrong in this horrible turn of events, and you look at her blankly and ask "What hasn't gone right?".
I am ashamed of you, and I am angry that you would continue to claim Christianity as your guide, when none of what you have done, or failed to do, has ever been following in the steps of Jesus. I am not what you would call a great proponent of Christianity, but I believe enough to understand that Jesus would never have gone into a "holy-war", nor demanded that people kill and die for abstract ideas and foggy reasons, backed by hate and bigotry and fear. Jesus would not put monetary gain above the health and well-fare, indeed the life, of anyone. And Jesus would never have spent a leisurely vacation in a nice, clean, suit, eating large, luxurious, meals, while people he could reach were drowning, starving, and dying. I think it is safe to say that the savior of all mankind would have flown into the heart of the worst of it, rolled up his sleeves, and begun healing the sick and feeding the starving. But not you, your sleeves are clean and neat and nicely pressed, but your hands are covered in blood.
You are not my President. You are just the lying politician I have to put up with until the mercy of time finally ends your unforgivable term in office. The day of your original inauguration, I defended you to my husband, saying that even though we didn't vote for you, we should try to support you as the leader of this country...I do not defend you now...I will never defend you again.
There is no defense for you.
With all my heart,
Weepingmoonblue