AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Dear Mr. President,

This letter comes to you from a fellow citizen of the United States of America. A person who, he believes, both loves and honors his country. This letter comes to you from a sense of citizenship, and from the angst I feel about my country's identity, and from my new-found worries of personal security and safety.

It seems like lately I've been waking up nervous and angry lately, Mr. President, and although you might think it's something of a stretch to do so, I blame this, in part, on you.

I have never felt more insecure about our nation's future, or about the world's, since you took office. I don't believe that this is because our enemies have grown or have become more dangerous, although perhaps now because of our mismanaged efforts in the middle-east they have. I believe my feeling of insecurity is the result of living in a culture which looks at the world fearfully and with distrust. A culture which your policies have helped to create. Both within our borders and without we watch nervously the people who were once our neighbors and our friends. And they, in turn suspicious of our new motives, watch us. Thanks a lot.

And thank you as well, Mr. President, for helping to create a culture permanently at war. Due to your thoughtless and revengeful efforts, we are today celebrating the 3rd anniversary of our war on... something, I know not what... in Iraq. Even after all this time the reasons for this war are vague at best; our plans for the future of Iraq, if indeed we have any, more obscure still. The issue of weapons of mass destruction has now been utterly dismantled. It is a joke. So why are we there? An act of retribution? Our allies in this war have more to do with the attack of 9-11 than Iraq. To promote stability? The area, indeed the whole world is now closer to a global-reaching conflict than at any time since the 60's. Humanitarian aims? Three years later, much of the country we liberated is still without basic necessities such as electricity and running water.

And yet we fight on against an undefined and rhetorical enemy, whose face can assume any you deem appropriate for the time: "Terror".

Why didn't you just declare war on "evil", or "badness"? I'm reminded of I, Claudius, when Caligula declares war against the sea. He summons all his prodigious armies and marches them to the shore, where, dismounting from his horse he strikes a few feeble blows at the waves. "Mission accomplished." But the sea, as you may know Mr. President, is still there.

I would like today to demand the immediate withdrawal of our forces from Iraq. But I'm not even sure that we can do that anymore. We have, in our hubris, succeeded in removing whatever semblance of order and structure existed in the area, replacing it with the rule of every man against every man. We have replaced dictatorship with anarchy. To call for our abandonment of this situation we created seems reckless. I just wish with all my heart that you had never led us here. What the hell should we do now?

I'm not arguing that Saddam was a great guy, but maybe we should have thought this over just a little bit, what do you think? Maybe 2,316 American lives ago you should have considered a long-range plan. Maybe 33,000 Iraqi lives ago you could have thought about what we were to accomplish. Maybe 248 billion dollars ago you could have examined the facts instead of fabricating your own. It's no surprise to me that the Iraqis don't trust us. I don't trust us either.

Maybe I'm being a bit too hard on you, though, Mr. President. It's unreasonable of me to lay all this blame at your feet. You are, after all, just one man. How can one person be responsible for all this? But then again, I'm just one man as well. And I feel responsible for the actions of my country, and for the things done in my name. My hope is, that by writing this letter, I can encourage that same feeling in you.