| newswire article |
|
|
29.Aug.2002 23:20 |
An open letter to George Walker Bush from Alan Hale
author: Info Flo
 e-mail: xivcam@yahoo.com
Alan Hale is an astronomer who resides in Cloudcroft, New Mexico. He is an
>alumnus of New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, and is co-discoverer
>of Comet Hale-Bopp.
|
>August 24, 2002
>
>An open letter to George Walker Bush:
>
>Dear Mr. Bush,
>
>You will have to forgive me, but there is simply no way that I can
>honestly address you as "President," since I believe that title should be
>reserved for those who are elected to that office - a statement that does
>not apply to you. I'll explain: as the son of a World War II veteran, the
>brother of a Vietnam veteran, and myself being a Naval Academy graduate and
>former Naval officer, I have a deep and abiding respect for the ideals upon
>which our nation was founded and which are contained within the
>Constitution.
>
>I'm not sure you've ever read or understood the Constitution, but I have.
>There's plenty of language in there about the proper roles of the various
>branches of our government that you seem not to comprehend, but the most
>important words are the first three, "We the People." We the People did not
>consent to your "leadership" of this nation, but five of your friends on
>the Supreme Court said that that didn't matter, so I guess we're stuck with
>you.
>
>And what has your "leadership" brought us? I could spend time discussing
>your performance on the environment or on our nation's economy, but those
>are long subjects. I'll mention, however, the irony in your promise this
>past weekend to "balance the budget." Mr. Bush, you were handed a balanced
>budget nineteen months ago, but you immediately squandered it on tax cuts
>and giveaways to your campaign contributors. As a result, my sons and I,
>and our respective generations, will be forced to waste hundreds of
>billions of dollars every year for the foreseeable future paying the
>interest on the national debt that you are running up.
>
>What I'd really like to discuss is your performance as Commander in Chief
>of our nation's armed forces, which I believe has been abysmal, to the
>point of dereliction. As a point of reference, do you remember the USS
>Greenville, the submarine that collided with a Japanese fishing vessel a
>year and a half ago? Even though he was not personally culpable, the
>Commanding Officer of the Greenville - a fellow Naval Academy graduate, I
>might add - nevertheless accepted full responsibility for that tragic
>accident, because doing so is the very essence of what it means to assume
>command.
>
>You should be held to at least the same standard. It has become quite
>clear over the past few months that you had received numerous detailed
>warnings, from both domestic and foreign sources, that an attack upon the
>U.S. was imminent, yet you did nothing to prevent it.
>
>Then, instead of accepting responsibility for the consequences of your
>inaction, as a true "Commander" would have done, you have in fact evaded
>all responsibility, to the point of blaming things on your predecessor and
>anyone who disagrees with you. Even worse, you have gone so far as to
>repeat sick jokes about "hitting the trifecta" that disgrace the memories
>of the 3000 innocent people who were murdered on that horrible day.
>
>You have also completely squandered the goodwill and solidarity felt by
>the people of the world towards our nation after we were attacked. Because
>of your actions, people around the world now see the U.S. as, in the recent
>words of one British writer, "arrogant, hypocritical, self-absorbed,
>self-indulgent, and contemptuous of others." As one who has been proud to
>represent America when I've traveled abroad, these words sicken me, because
>I know that they don't represent the American people - but they do
>represent how you have portrayed us to the world.
>
>Your actions have affected me personally as well. I have had the privilege
>of leading two delegations of American scientists and students on "science
>diplomacy" visits to Iran during the past three years. As a result of these
>and other such visits, we were making slow and painstaking, but
>nevertheless genuine, progress toward establishing a peaceful dialogue with
>the people of that country. But because of your insulting and, frankly,
>asinine "axis of evil" rhetoric you have managed to wreck our efforts, and
>render worthless all the time, energy, and resources many people on both
>sides have invested in trying to get this process going.
>
>And now, of course, you are constantly beating the war drum about Iraq,
>even though that country has not attacked us and was not involved in last
>September's events, and even though you have offered nothing in the way of
>any hard evidence that that country poses a serious threat to us. You
>nevertheless seem intent on invading that country unilaterally and without
>provocation, apparently because, as your advisor Richard Perle put it, "the
>failure to take on Saddam after what said would produce such a collapse of
>confidence in that it would set back the war on terrorism."
>
>So if I'm to take that at face value, my sons are supposed to go get
>killed in a war that you will start just so you can maintain some semblance
>of credibility after all your reckless rhetoric. This is a family-oriented
>newspaper that will not print what I think about that. All I can do is
>humbly suggest that you go visit that black wall on the northwest corner of
>the Mall in Washington and read the names of the 58,000 Americans who died
>fighting in a war that you and Mr. Perle, among others in your
>administration who seem so intent on starting this new conflict, managed to
>wiggle out of.
>
>If this is the kind of "leadership" we can continue to expect from you,
>then I fear for my sons, for our nation, and for our planet. These are all
>far too precious to entrust to someone who apparently has little, if any,
>understanding of the consequences of his words and actions and who moreover
>refuses to accept the responsibility for these consequences. So you'll just
>have to excuse this native New Mexican for not being among your fawning
>admirers as you make your visit to the Land of Enchantment. Perhaps some
>other time, if and when you ever manage to learn that this nation and
>planet belongs to everyone, and not just to those who pander to your
>worldview.
>
>Alan Hale
>
> ----
>
>Alan Hale is an astronomer who resides in Cloudcroft, New Mexico. He is an
>alumnus of New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, and is co-discoverer
>of Comet Hale-Bopp.
>
|
add a comment on this article
add a comment on this article
|
