May 10, 2008
George W. Bush, President The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500
RE: CURRENT CRISIS IN TEXAS
CRISIS in Texas includes: a gross disregard for human life, women and children held hostage, with the ultimate separation of children and mothers, the invasion of a community and the desecration of a Temple, outrageous mock hearing, blatant disregard of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as adopted by the United Nations and vouchsafed by the Constitution of the United States of America.
Dear Mr. President:
We appeal to you, as President of the United States of America and Leader of the
Free World, to intercede in behalf of an American community which has been
invaded and devastated by an armed militant force. Mr. President, it does not
require a foreign country to commit terrorist acts on American soil. Terrorist
acts can be committed by federal, local, and private entities that are operating
under the guise of “protecting the public.”
“The freedom to worship is so central to America’s character that we tend to take it personally when that freedom is denied to others.” But we are not talking about religious freedom being denied in other countries. We are not talking about terrorist acts being committed abroad. We are not talking about human rights being totally ignored and trampled underfoot by some totalitarian regime that is part of the Axis of Evil. We are talking about homes being broken into without search warrants, unarmed fathers being forced to the ground with M16 rifles pointed at their heads, screaming children being torn from the arms of their grief-stricken mothers---all upon American soil and within your own home state of Texas.
Records will show that crusading politicians and ex-FLDS members have exploited the FLDS faith by participating in sensational media productions and lucrative book deals. Officials have promoted and encouraged as part of their political agenda a flagrant disregard for the truth and have focused on sensationalism, sex, and vile accusations of every kind designed to promote prejudice and hatred.
Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff solicited the assistance of disgruntled ex-FLDS members with personal vendettas against their former faith to further his efforts to exterminate the FLDS and has boasted that he is “driving them out of Utah.” He selectively prosecuted the FLDS leader and several members, in an effort to scatter their families and destroy their homes and resources. He then solicited cooperation from Arizona and Texas legislators and officials to do the same in their state, all under the guise of “protecting children.” Even on the federal level, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is seeking Federal money
from every tax-paying American to carry out his agenda of hatred toward the FLDS church.
The hatred generated against the FLDS people culminated in a raid last month on a peaceful community in west Texas. On April 3, 2008, Texas law enforcement, including Texas Rangers, county sheriffs, DPS Troopers, and Parks and Wildlife officers, invaded the YFZ community near Eldorado, Texas, with a heavily armed militant force. This action was initiated as a result of a hoax perpetrated by anti-FLDS crusaders, alleging that heinous abuse within the community had been committed by Dale Evans Barlow against a “Sarah Jessop Barlow.” Elected sheriff David Doran of Schleicher County, Texas, was informed prior to entering the community that no person named Sarah Jessop Barlow resided there. He also made telephone contact with Dale Evans Barlow, who resides in Colorado City, Arizona, and has not visited Texas since a school trip in 1977. In spite of the fact that he knew that the information originally given him was false, the Sheriff, having a confidential anti-FLDS informant, instructed his assembled forces to carry out this massive militant act.
A heavy tank assisted, along with air support from a helicopter and an unmanned surveillance drone, only to find a peaceful community engaged in the normal activities of farming, manufacturing, and construction. Snipers and swat teams moved in around the sprawling 1,600 acre community of private residences, schools, workshops, church buildings, and a sacred shrine. The residents submitted peacefully to this intrusive invasion, which quickly escalated into a systematic terrorization of every man, woman, and child, seemingly designed to provoke a confrontation justifying deadly force, as was used in Waco, Texas.
Ignoring fervent pleas to avoid the dastardly and unholy act of defiling the Temple, the Sherriff, motivated both by curiosity and vindictiveness, entered the building. The resulting desecration of this sacred shrine gave a smug satisfaction to his coconspirators and friends in government.
The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services interrogated young ladies, using techniques that showed an appalling disregard for human rights as the young ladies were mocked, vulgarly cursed, and threatened. Some were repeatedly and unmercifully interrogated the entire night about issues, subjects, and persons of which they had no knowledge. They were loaded onto buses and taken to the Eldorado Civic Center. Mothers and innocent children also were bussed to the Civic Center. The group was later taken to Fort Concho, an old historic frontier fort last occupied in the 1870s; and later, because of outrageous conditions at the fort, some were moved to the Coliseum Sports Arena and to the Pavilion in San Angelo, Texas.
While the official statements of the invaders were broadcast worldwide to the effect that the children were being placed in a safe and secure environment, the mothers and children were, in fact, crowded by the hundreds into an antiquated military facility without adequate toilets, bathing facilities, or privacy. For several days they were denied a chance to clean up and many were not even permitted to change into other clothing sent to relieve their condition.
Young women and girls between the ages of twelve and eighteen were kept isolated from their mothers. Young men and boys were detained in conditions worse than those used for prisoners of war and were subjected to isolation and solitary confinement, being denied an opportunity to comfort and console little brothers and young friends. Cameras, cell phones, or any other type of communication devices were confiscated, and body searches were imposed.
The ultimate deception wrought upon the mothers by lies and intimidation was the separation of the mothers from the children five years old and older. Later, orders were given to separate all children from their mothers except the nursing babies under one year of age.
In the crowded Coliseum at San Angelo, the harsh announcement came to the ears of those loving mothers as an edict from Herod to the Jews. That vast Sports Arena burst into cries and wails of heartsick mothers and screams of terrified children as a vast cortege of attendants swarmed the arena, tearing screaming children from their weeping mothers and physically carrying them away. The irreparable shock suffered was indescribable, as was the loathing repugnance felt toward these heartless officials. All that was missing in this “Colosseum” was the lions.
Not every worker was hardened to the calamity, for many workers and officers, despite strict orders from superior agency officials, broke down and wept in sorrow with the victims in the horrific panic and trepidation which besieged these helpless and jeopardized mothers and children.
The abuses were continued by a systematic denial of due process in the Court. Hundreds of children were forced through an inadequate preliminary hearing of only one and a half days. As the hearings got underway, many attorneys and adlitems were denied access to or had not even met their clients. The few attorneys that were allowed to speak at the hearings were reprimanded by the Court for making legal objections to the many false allegations. Parental rights were ignored! In this illegal and unprecedented group custody hearing, many children were not represented by an attorney and were not even acknowledged on the state’s roster until after the mandated 14-day deadline for a hearing had expired. Some of these children, who remain in state custody to this day, still have no legal representation. The legal professionals that were appointed to assist stood in shock and amazement at the gross violation of constitutional rights and due process. This is the most unprecedented “kangaroo court” custody case in United States History, and judicial responsibility has been fumbled in a most outrageous way
Government IDs were blatantly denied and said to be “fake.” Wives and children of visiting families from other states were caught up in the raid and are currently being held hostage in this travesty of justice. Canadian citizens are also being held against their will and without notification of the Canadian Embassy..
Mr. President, the violation of fundamental human rights, especially freedom of religion, is not something that takes place only in foreign countries. We quote three very pertinent statements from the International Religious Freedom Report of 2007 issued by the U.S. Department of State:
The purpose of this report on religious freedom is to document the actions of governments---those that repress religious expression, persecute innocent believers, or tolerate violence against religious minorities…
A second category of abuses occurs with state hostility toward minority or non-approved religions. These governments implement policies designed to demand that adherents recant their faith, to cause religious group members to flee the country, or to intimidate and harass certain religious groups.
Finally, the practice of discriminating against certain religions by identifying them as dangerous cults or sects is a common type of restriction on religious freedom, even in countries where religious freedom is otherwise respected.
The report then goes on to document actions that the U.S. Government has taken to advance religious freedom in eight foreign countries designated as “Countries of Particular Concern” as well as to detail events in twenty-two countries involving both governmental abuses and positive steps governments have taken to protect religious freedom.
Mr. President, don’t let the United States point the finger at other countries and at the same time ignore a total violation of human rights within our own borders! The crisis addressed in this letter is occurring not only in this country but right in Texas and only 224 miles from your own home!
You have made significant statements defining the position of the United States on terrorism:
Every nation in every region now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.
There is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and resentment, and expose the pretentions of tyrants, and reward the hope of the decent and tolerant, and that is the force of human freedom.
Terrorism involves “violent…or life-threatening acts…intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population,” produce “serious damage to property,” or endanger “a person’s life, other than that of the person committing” the acts. The actions against the YFZ community have been acts of terrorism perpetrated by the very people who are sworn to uphold our liberties.
When government gets involved in the vindictive actions of individuals with private ulterior motives, taxpayers of the state are forced to pay the price of corruption. The people of the YFZ community went from being self-sufficient to being a burden upon the tax dollars of Law Enforcement, the Legal System, the Welfare System, and many other state programs.
Patriotism is shown when elected officials are willing to stand up and defend the Constitution. We are not asking them to agree with the beliefs of an unpopular religion but to defend human rights that have been violated by these unprecedented terrorist acts. Elected officials in this nation have the responsibility to honor their oath of office by protecting the rights and liberties entrusted to them rather than become cowards by allowing their personal religious bigotry, swayed by mass media, to cause them to condone such outrageous abuses. Is there enough integrity in elected officials to demand that the Constitution of the United States be upheld through due process when unfounded allegations are made? Is the government too proud to acknowledge a wrong committed when acting on bad intelligence? If so, the freedom of every man, woman, and child is under attack!
Mr. President, we invite and pray for your immediate intervention. It has been customary for a President to visit the site of a disaster of this magnitude where so many innocent people are involved. We are painfully aware that the FLDS people are generally misunderstood, either because of ignorance or as the result of deliberate distortions and misrepresentations by the media and others. We personally invite you, First Lady Laura Bush, and members of your staff to visit the YFZ community and witness firsthand the site of these gross violations of human rights that have occurred in your peaceful neighboring west-Texas community. Reunite these children with their loving parents, and return families to their homes!
We call upon you to unite the government and the citizens of this nation to hold accountable those who perpetrated these acts of terror and now are determined to save the state from embarrassment by selectively prosecuting members of the FLDS faith. Will you invite the governors and legislators whose constituents are directly involved in this tragic affair to have the political courage to defend the rights of their citizens instead of taking the cowardly approach of acknowledging the wrongs but not having the political courage to stand up and defend the constitutional rights of citizens within their jurisdiction?
Mr. President, stand for the right whether anyone else does or not. Provide the great leadership this country needs at a time when political, social and moral decay is at an all-time high. May your legacy be that you had the valor to be a protector, defender, and fighter against all odds in behalf of the innocent and unpopular, and may the United States of America truly be one nation, under God, with Liberty and Justice for all.
Please call me.
Sincerely,
Willie Jessop Mothers and Children of YFZ
cc: Richard B. Cheney, Vice President The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500