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MY LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Dear _______________,

Recently, President George W Bush went on the offensive against critics of the Iraq war. He called out anti-war pessimists and Democrats who call for a pull out from Iraq. The task we are facing is one that will test and define our nation. Already anti-war protestors have jumped off the bandwagon, and have begun taking an axe to the wheels.

The troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan deserve to know that the politicians who sent them to war stand behind them. By that I mean they do not give them words of praise, or claim they do support them. As the saying goes, action speaks louder than words. For example, the man Democrats wanted to be commander in chief. John F Kerry, John Kerry voted AGAINST sending vital supplies to our troops. Lets get this straight. John Kerry read the same intelligence George W Bush did, and voted to send them to War, and voiced his support as the war was drawing imminent. Kerry voted to send the troops to war, but voted to deny them the supplies they needed. Thank God the senators from Massachusetts are not running our foreign policy. If everything was up to Kerry and Kennedy (along with some help from Senator Clinton) US troops would have been sent in to fight, but with no supplies.

Senator Ted Kennedy demands a time for pullout from Iraq. How can someone be so juvenile, we made this mistake, but on a smaller scale in Afghanistan, and decades later it came back to haunt us on September 11 2001.

Senate Democrats are launching attacks on George W Bush and claim to be anti-war politicians. Since when is someone who voted for war an anti-war politician? Many Senate Democrats have called Ted Kennedy ‘A leader’ for the Democratic Party…If he is their standard bearer; let’s take a look at his stances on Iraq and our troops.

"We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction." (Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), (9/27/02) "Saddam Hussein Is A Dangerous Figure. He's Got Dangerous Weapons.” (10/6/02) Now, let’s fast forward to 2005, where the Senator does a full 180. "Instead of providing open and honest answers about how we will achieve success in Iraq and allow our troops to begin to come home,' Kennedy said, 'the president reverted to the same manipulation of facts to justify a war we never should have fought."
There is no better way to honor those who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan except to finish what they died so bravely for. To pull out of Iraq now, and to give up now, is only to make their deaths in vain.

Sen Kennedy is supposed to be a leader of the Democratic Party. They lined up behind our country after 9-11 and in the lead up to Iraq, but have abandoned it for political gain. President Bush has stuck by his words, and his promise he made to our country while standing on top of the rubble of the WTC. “I can hear you, and pretty soon the entire world will hear us all!” No matter his poll numbers, the President continues to support our troops and what is right for our nation. I don’t know about Senator Kennedy, but I would much rather have a President who stands up in the face of danger, and stands by his decisions than one who runs away for political gain at the first sight of danger.

God Bless George W Bush and God Bless America.

Sincerely, __________________

Please don't take this as "criticism", just a different approach some might try.

While it is literally true that Kerry voted against the 87 billion, and it made a great sound bite for the election, I think most of us understand why he did so, and realise that in the end he was not voting to deny troops what they needed. Certainly his vote would have DONE so had it been deciding, but by highlighting that, I think that others who also would understand the reason for his vote will think us partisans rather than truth-seekers.

For me it isn't what money they vote for, or against, because of procedural issues. It is when they claim that the war is illegal, or immoral. It is when they claim that the government is sponsoring torture, that we were lied to to go do war, that the people who voted FOR the war regret their vote and think the troops are dying for nothing.

To the degree we can make this about re-writing history, about how that demoralises the troops, about how fighting over the "VOTE" for a war that we are now fighting, rather than debating alternative ways we can move forward, we can win the public relations battle.

My personal emphasis is on how AMERICA is at war, not just the Bush Administration. Those who work for AMERICA are responsible for the war, not just the president who asked for the vote. When people who are IN THE GOVERNMENT claim that the GOVERNMENT is behaving immorally, they are blaming themselves, and all of us as citizens, for immoral behavior.

And when they do so with no proof, they are not doing the "honorable" thing by "dissenting", they are just lying for personal political gain.

Like I said, I'm not faulting anybody who wants to focus differently, just that I think this approach would work better. I'm just one guy, and not an old-timer to politics.