Posted on 09/26/2001 2:02:39 PM PDT by Heisenburger
Dear Mr. President:
I want to tell you that you have lost my vote in the 2004 election. Though I voted for you in 2000, though I donated to your Victory 2000 campaign, and though I wore your pins and t-shirts, I cannot support you again.
Your diplomatic team, by trying to build a world coalition, has allowed Middle-Eastern and Arab dictatorships to dictate what we can and cannot do to respond to the attacks that took place on September 11. Instead of following the example of Ronald Reagan and basing foreign policy only on what is in the best interests of the United States, you have made concessions to Pakistan and Middle-Eastern countries that will threaten our security for years to come. The coalition has indeed determined the mission, not the other way around.
Specifically, your administration's statement that you will not overthrow the Taliban is unthinkably misguided. To not overthrow the Taliban is to give a feeling of security and power to other states that sponsor terrorism. Not only that, but it makes your statement last Thursday that the Taliban would share in the fate of terrorists an outright lie. One of the reasons I supported you in the 2000 election was that I was sick of being lied to by the Clinton administration. Now I see that you and your team are no different.
Furthermore, the fact that your administration, in an attempt to keep from offending Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, is not concentrating on Iraq as an important link to the Septemeber 11 attacks shows that you are not truly concerned with protecting Americans and ending terrorism. As Colin Powell said, Hussein is indeed the greatest terrorist in the world today. That he had a hand in the attacks on the 11th is not only highly probable, but also fairly obvious. The world can never be safe as long as Saddam Hussein is still in power.
In closing, I would remind you that you have a chance to win back my vote by changing your policy towards terror states and terrorists themselves. Perhaps your team should realize that "it is easier to ask forgiveness than to ask permission."
Sincerely,
Brent Skilton
Are you saying you have no hope for Gore?
Taking away their actual assets isn't "economic sanctions", it's starving the beast directly. And, as I pointed out, it's only one aspect of the total operation. The goal cannot be to simply wipe the terrorists out -- new ones would simply pop up to take over. The goal of the operation is to destroy the infrastructure of the terrorist networks so that the next wave of killers won't be able to train and prepare.
That means drying up their funding. That means breaking up their cells located here. That means pressuring states into withdrawing their support and protection of the thugs. And yes, it also means killing some people and blowing stuff up, both via secretive special-ops work and blunt, direct military action. Each piece is important to contributing to the overall success of the operation.
As for being impatient, I am going on the line coming directly from the mouth of the administration. They have said they will not try to topple the Taliban. There is no disagreement that this is the official line from the White House as this week.
You are taking the media's spin on this a little too dearly. The statement was that the US is not interested in establishing a new government for Afghanistan. If (actually, when) the Taliban gets in our way, they will suffer. We are not going to occupy Afghanistan, though. We will not prop up a puppet government. That "nation-building" crap is not a goal of the overall operation.
When we're done in Afghanistan, the (severely weakened) Taliban will likely fall to one of the two opposition groups -- but that's not our concern here, especially if whoever does take over remembers the object lesson about to be presented.
Powell is only a messenger boy, nothing else and there has been a great effort by some here on FR to sow dissension among the people that there is a problem where there is none.
Mike
That's okay. President Bush earned way more votes than he lost this past two weeks.
Haven't you seen the poll where they have him running as independent against Gore and Bush? McCain takes away more Democratic registered votes than he does Republican but still loses.
Quite frankly I'm glad McCain isn't President, I think he's much too unpredictable.
If Bush keeps saying things like these, he will be overthrown.
Do you want me to show you the check stubs from my campaign contributions? Do you want me to show you the Bush 2000 bumper sticker on my car?
Overthrown? Overthrown?
Are you a looney?
Give me a break.
President George Bush said he was not interested in "nation building" - long-term troop deployments to help rebuild a shattered country.
The best way to fight the "flat evil" of terrorism would be to "ask for the co-operation of citizens within Afghanistan who may be tired of having the Taliban in place or tired of having Osama bin Laden" in their country.
By your repudiation of Bush and his policies in this war, I assume that:
you are FOR 'nation building';
you are FOR long term deployments to rebuild Afghanistan;
and that you are AGAINST:
asking for the cooperation of the citizens within Afghanistan who don't want the Taliban.
Is this correct, or are you just shooting your mouth off?
Silly me, I was actually waiting for a response to this...
We don't have a clue what's coming. Be patient.
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