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To Whom It May Concern:
I am a practical woman, progressive in my views, and conservative with my money. I am considered an Independent politically, and educate myself perhaps more than most because of my belief in voting for an “individual” instead of a “party.” I did not vote for George W. Bush in 2000, and will not be voting for him in 2004.
When I investigated George W. Bush in 2000, I found him to be a man who consistently said one thing and did another. I found his oil business background to be barely disguised money laundering, while his venture into the world of baseball involved taking money from taxpayers to enrich himself and his partners. His record in public service was laughably deficient; he appeared to possess an overall sense of entitlement, bad judgment, and lack of respect for those who thought differently than he did. In good conscious, I could not give this man my vote. In November of 2000, with the election in an uproar, I expressed my distress in writing, and predicted we would shortly be at war with Iraq if he became President. To my sorrow, my predictions were accurate.
September 11, 2001 will always be a turning point for this nation. There are those who believe George W. Bush is a great leader based on that fateful day. I disagree for three reasons: before, during, and after.
If George W. Bush had been doing his job as President of the United States prior to September 11, 2001, I don’t believe we would have HAD a “September 11” situation. Neither he nor his top advisors met with “terrorism czar” Richard Clarke (who was instrumental in preventing attacks during the “millennium”) to discuss what practical steps were needed to prevent future attacks despite his repeated requests. Frantic warnings from our intelligence agencies were ignored in favor of a month long August vacation in 2001 – the longest, and most disastrous “presidential break” in the history of the United States. Terrorism was taken so seriously by this administration that substantial budget cuts to already over stretched departments involved in combating it were being proposed on September 10, 2001.
And then September 11th happened, and a shocked America grieved.
I have watched the television program “West Wing.” I have read books by Tom Clancy. I have seen the video of George W. Bush’s response to the words, “Our nation is under attack.” In those first seven minutes, he proved himself unworthy of the keys to our nuclear arsenal.
There are those who will say, “But ever since, he has been a great President. He has rallied us all.” Those people are wrong. George W. Bush did not and has not displayed the actions of a man who is worthy of leading this great nation.
When the entire world asked “Why? Why did they do this to us?” George W. Bush did the same thing he had always done – he took the quick and easy way out. “They hate our freedom,” he said, and for three years that answer has caused the world nothing but grief. We have entered into two wars, and thousands of people are dead, because of a simplistic, stupid, lazy, idiotic bit of jingoist nonsense.
“They hate our freedom.” Well, nothing we can do but kill them all and let God sort them out, right? “They hate our freedom.”
Men do not kill because they hate; they kill because THEY WANT. Our soldiers kill because they want to live, and they want to serve. By not asking what those who use terrorist tactics really want, George W. Bush has deprived us all of the opportunity to actually solve The Real Problems. Did the terrorists want the United States to get “non-believers” out of the holy places of Saudi Arabia? Perhaps a compromise – an American battalion of soldiers strictly of the Muslim faith? –could be worked out. Or did the terrorists want the children of Israel and Palestine to live in peace? What steps could we be taking to work towards those goals? Or maybe the terrorists all suffer from mental illness, and the solution involves making Prozac available all over the world. Who knows?
We don’t. Since we already knew the answer – “They hate our freedom” -- as wrong as common sense dictated it must be – we didn’t even bother ASKING further questions. And that ongoing failure is one I lay directly at the doorstep of George W. Bush.
Do not mistake me for suggesting we “negotiate” with terrorists. I am suggesting instead we SOLVE THE PROBLEMS that CREATE people who are so desperate for attention to be paid to their cause they willingly kill and die. The world will always have the occasional mad man who does things because “the little voices in his head tell him it’s a good idea.” Those we try to find and treat with medication. The rest we handle by being sensibly vigilant in our homeland security, and appropriately involved in world affairs. With 95% of containers coming into this country still not being inspected, Osama bin Ladin on the loose for three years, and continuing violence in Israel, Iraq and Afghanistan, George W. Bush has done neither.
There was an old commercial that seems particularly apt for me. “Expect more from a leader.” I do. If I, a practical woman, can see both forest and trees, I expect my President to view both as well. George W. Bush has failed me as a leader and a President. The nightmare must end. It is time for a change.
Respectfully,
Ida M. Briggs
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