An open
letter to Steve Chabot,
My Dear
Representative,
I am
totally and completely against intervening in the Syrian Civil War,
either for regime change or as our President says, to teach President
Assad a lesson. The man was wrong to gas his own people. I am not
disputing that. However, the Syrian conflagration is not the only one
burning across the globe. It is not the only place where women and
children are dying because of the whims and power grabs of money
hungry dictators and despots.
The
poor, women and children, suffer right here in the United States,
thanks in great part to the very laws and regulations put into place
by this Congress, which is now debating who has the moral ground.
They suffer and die daily in Africa because Hutus and Tutsis continue
to fight the colonial wars begun a hundred years ago by white
conquerors bent on raping the continent of its vast natural
resources. Past illegal wars have nearly bankrupted our country,
while making a few men rich from the spoils of oil. We don't have the
moral ground when it comes to humanitarian principles,
Representative, despite what our President would like us to believe.
My first
concern is the President's call for “limited engagement.” He says
the hit will be a surgical strike designed to punish. All recent
past actions have been described as limited, yet here we are
struggling to disengage from both Iraq and Afghanistan years later
and at a monumental cost to taxpayers, as we watch our own cities
fall down into decay. Limited engagement by Bill Clinton resulted in
the attack on the Trade Towers on 9/11. Limited strikes in Somalia
resulted in yet another deadly fiasco. The so called punishment
strikes only seem to punish us. Considering that nearly all of the
Republicans who voted to support President Bush's calls for war are
still in place, I don't believe that anything will be kept at
“limited.” The president aligning with John McCain, the very man
calling for regime change dating back to the past election bothers me
greatly. If I wanted John McCain to represent me, I would have voted
for him.
And let
me be perfectly honest, I am very disappointed in President Obama. I
voted for men and women whom I thought would keep us out of war, not
jump to get into another one. I voted for men and women whom I
thought would use those billions of dollars dedicated to war, to
healing unemployment, low wages and other major problems affecting
our country.
I also
think the time has come for the United States to listen to its
people as well as the international community. I think acting without
UN sanction or NATO is a big mistake. I mean what happens if sometime
in the future Russia or China decides to jump in behind one of their
allied countries?
I hold
no illusions about Congress' love for the people it purports to
represent. A congress ready willing and more than able to attempt to
derail healthcare, medicare, social security and education while our cities decay, doesn't
give a damn about its people and I'm probably wasting time writing
this letter. But I've got to try to make you understand what kinds of
hell you continue to inflict upon the people while attempting to
stand on moral ground.
Congressman
Chabot, bigger men and women would stand up for a peace process.
Bigger men and women would take into consideration the sacrifices
already made by the people before asking them to make more. We don't need bullets or missiles. We need talk and communication. We need
time to heal.
I hope
that when the time comes you will not be stampeded into voting for
another war action that benefits the few rather than the many.
Respectfully,
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