Thursday, August 23, 2007 copy writen in 2010
To my fellow Americans
This was written while I was work 12 hr a day on a drilling rig in the ship yard of work. I have been so frustrated about the war of choice in Iraq, the policies and direction of our country. I sent this to several news papers, political parties in Hawaii and Colorado my my life long friend Nancy Shine Morre, before the election of 2004, at that time the American people were not ready to hear my message. In 2007 it became my first blog. I understand well the need for time to pass for some emotional events to be excepted, understood, put in context, true for individuals and nations.
For many years I’ve wanted to tell you what I’ve learned in my life, often on the front line of American foreign policy. I’m not a writer, but the events since 9/11 and now with an election close at hand I feel I must try hard to tell what I have saw and know to be true. I have 5 grandchildren. What type of country and world will they grow up in? I do have concern for our nation and that is why I do this, I am not reviewing anything that can not be found in a library. I simply ask you consider these things with an open mind, just honestly think and ask yourself, are we doing the right thing?
Since I have been so frustrated. On 9/11 = Like you I was at work when someone said "you got to see what is on the TV." I witnessed the second jet flight into the second tower building. Unlike you, I knew within seconds it was Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden. I was not surprised by the use of passenger jets as WMD as I had read in a Saudi Arabian English newspaper of just such a plan maybe 4-5 years before. My only surprise was the fact that 17 of the hi-jack terrorists were Saudi nationals - I guess because of my living among the Saudis for 20 years, leaving there in early 1999. I had known the problems of Saudi Arabia but also know them as very peaceful people, down trodden people that complain to me, a foreigner, bitterly about their plight. Now that has changed. I know 9/11 has many meanings to different people, to me among other things it was the moment when America could no longer allow the government to run foreign policy without the people understanding the basic policy and the reasons and effects on others. Since 9/11 I have never heard a single honest explanation to our people how we got to this point in our history.
Some would have you believe that Bin Laden and company just woke one day and hated America and our way of life. No one has talked about the root cause. There is always a why. Most important is why they have strong support from thousands and if not support, a deep understanding or tactical support of millions around the world. Its not hatred and revenge, (hatred and revenge are a poison that will destroy the holder and can only inspire a few). The point is many of the terrorists operate out of a sincere belief that something is so wrong, convinced no change will happen without such acts. Convinced their cause is worthy to die for. Often for the rank and file possibly the motivation is an injustice that no one seems to notice. I’m sure some are just filled with hate and some other has just slipped from the family’s grasp and meets others that fill their minds with untrue doctrine.
Desperation and war and occupation, and the world’s blind eye to see many injustices all have come together. There is no question in my mind that some of our policies over the years have had a direct effect and is part of the root cause of the threat we now face. Policies used during the cold war when we supported many unscrupulous leaders and governments and didn’t much concern ourselves about the people.
What I can tell you is when I first heard of Bin Laden 23 years ago. One of my fellow workers came to work very up set. On talking with him he told me how Bin Laden wanted one son for holy war in Afghanistan to fight the godless Russians. If he gave one son it was good and if he didn’t well the peer pressure was great. You have to understand in Saudi Arabia being faithful muslin is everything? Another time is a story of a young man witch is very reflective of what I saw a lot of. But this is about a young man I worked with. He used to drink, lived a party life, kind of a typical oil field young worker. Then he changed, he grow a long beard, he became very faithful in his daily prayers, became an excellent worker and went on to become a rig foreman. Very much like a person who become a born again Christian. Belief in his God gave his life meaning and purpose, positive things all could see and respect. I talked to him about his change in life. He proudly told of becoming a true believer, how a great leader would come from Afghanistan and throw off the yoke of the corrupt Royal family and do away with all the hypocrisy we both could see all around us, all would one day change.
When I first arrived in Saudi Arabia in 1978 about 10% of the older men wore long beards to show they were true believers and prayer leaders etc. When I left 20 years later 99 % of the males old enough to have facial hair had a beard or something. It was their sign of being against the government and to be true believers.
For 20 years I watched TV in Saudi Arabia and the same script played out every week. Some world leader, UN official, US congressmen, US senators, US President and Vic Presidents, Generals, Corporation CEO’s , University presidents, every conceivable organizations came. They would have a meeting with the King or crown prince in Riyadh the capital, exchanges pleasantries and letters then off to Dhahran the oil center of Saudi Arabia. On to Aramco and visit the first oil well. Then home, always with a program funded, a contract, a grant, or a favor if not for their organization then one for a brother in law or friend. (Saudi Arabia purchased respectability.) We even sent a Royal prince into space. All that time no one notices the people as they became less and less happy with their lot in life. I saw basic slavery in some cases and total injustice and unbelievable discrimination. I saw many unpleasant things and total absence of basic human rights.
Oh it was great if you just counted your money and didn’t get involved. I left Saudi Arabia before I should have financially. I got over involved in doing what I felt I should do. In the end it became clear to me it was best I go home. Oh I’ve been face to face and toe to toe with radical men filled with anger and hate of me, I’ve been face to face with executives that practiced blatant discrimination. But I also spent thousands of hrs. working and living life with Saudis and other Arabs, sharing our stories about our families and lives, I’ve talked for hrs with younger Saudis about the future and old men about the past. Am I an expert on the Middle East? I will just tell you this.
I have watched TV as you have, listening to the so called experts with all kind of degrees. I realize they have degrees but don’t have the understanding. Maybe they just never had the chance to share thousands of meals with the people they're suppose to be experts about. I sometimes think if all the experts only have degrees and little experience, well that could be bad. Afghanistan = War came to them about 1979 when the USSR invaded and set up a puppet government. For most Americans it meant we didn’t go to the Olympics.
That was the beginning of our involvement. When we had everything to do with arming, training, supplying and encouraging the holy worriers to fight the Godless Russians in our last hot war of the cold war. The Mujahedin fought hard and bravely. Osama Bin Laden was one of them. They took few prisoners and beheading of Russian solders was commonplace, only back then they used a Kodak camera and made sure the people of Russia saw them. Every Russian solder know his capture would mean death by beheading. When it was against the USSR in the cold war it was OK, or was it ???
The same thing you see in Iraq today went on in Afghanistan 25 years ago. After the USSR was defeated, we basically left Afghanistan. Oh we support one group after another. Pakistan was our main point of support with the arms and money all going thru them. I watched and read and worked with men from the area. All the old war lords’ names are not new to me. I watched as the war lords switched side time and again, always with Saudi money. Even I think to myself I should had known something big was up when they finally killed Masud the Northern alliance leader just two day before 9/11. He was to me the one true Afghan patriot, (just my observation.)
Americans lost little sleep over the fact we used Afghanistan to fight this last battle of the cold war. But the reality is the people of Afghanistan paid an unbelievable price in life and lost generation after generation because their nation became the center point of a war between the us and the USSR. Thirty years of suffering and grief. We hardly noticed until 9/11.
I supported our war in Afghanistan after 9/11. I hoped we would take the whole country, then invest heavily to repair it and provide the security needed so they could set up their own type of government and the world could see the positive results. The United States of America had 95% of the world with us in that effort. We had been attached from their, Bin Laden’s base of operation was their, ?? The Taliban (who we helped to come to power) had become an embarrassment to the Islamic world and only Saudi Arabia recognized them. Quite frankly we owed it to the people of Afghanistan and the world community would have helped us a great deal. And the war against Al-Qaeda would have been greatly strengthened.
Instead we purchased the war lords (drug lords) and were in a rush to win and say we had won. Today we control Kabul and little else. We rush to move on to a war on Iraq and used lies and half truths to convince the American people Saddam Hussein was somehow behind 9/11 and about to strike us again. This is un-forgivable. All because of some right wing dreams of yesterday. What kind of freedom did we bring to Afghanistan? We can’t provide security for elections, the war lords sell their drugs and protect their interest and again no one sees the people. The future of Afghanistan is unknown and it’s the one place we should have planted our foot, and the seed of goodwill. Regardless of the fact they have no oil.
Iraq = What a sad story; We rushed to war against one of the oldest historical people in the world, with one of the most complicated mixes of people to make up one nation; A result of the days of colonial rule and the setting up of puppet governments to maintain control. But the American people went along, 80 % of them convinced Saddam Hussein some how had something to do with 9/11 and feeling he was an eminent threat to our national security.
Its kind of like Humpty dumpy and all the Kings men, the egg has fallen off the wall and all the kings’ men can’t put it back together again. Some want you to believe it was bad intelligence for the mistakes made. But the truth is it was a total lack of intelligent thinking on the part of our leaders. How can we go from a stand against a superpower like the USSR who had nukes and delivery systems yet be afraid of a tin horn dictator with no air force, no navy and no missiles? Saddam Hussein had illusions of grandeur. We know this man well; we dealt with Saddam as a friend and an enemy for 25 years. In the 80’s we supported him with everything including satellite photos of Iranian troop movements during the Iran - Iraq war.
Saddam was aware 20 years ago we could read his license plate from space. We supported him event as he gassed the Iranians. We vetoed a vote on a resolution at the UN for Iraq, about his use of poison gas in that war. He gassed his own people the Kurds, because they were join with the Iranians, and we never said a word about it. Then in a mad rush to war as if this man was about to jump out and get us, the government, the military, started telling half truths about Saddam and how bad he was. Yes he was bad but he was always bad, but never crazy.
For me the sick side of the half truths is the 300,000 mass graves. The government never tells you the vast majority of those graves came about after the Gulf War-1, after we defeated him in Kuwait. With in days, with all our mighty forces still there, we sat back and watched Saddam put down the Shia up-rising against him because that was the reason he was left in power, to keep the Shia from coming to power. Saddam knew we were watching him, he knew that was his job and he did it well. Our only problem was we felt someone else would take Saddam's place but he never let that happen. He ran a ruthless show to keep it from happening.
I did see with my own eyes the truck loads of supplies going to Iraq for several years during the Iran / Iraq war. There is only one road north from the ports of Saudi and we used them also for our oil rigs. Saudi Arabia had a lot of both Sunni and Shia citizens that traveled back and forth and married. I know people from both religious sects. That war of course killed one million Iranian’s and about 300,000 Iraqis. That war made enemies of the Shia and Sunni I worked with. When Saddam was putting down the Shias I had more then one Shia come to me and ask. Why do you let them kill us, kill my people. The truth was, the why was for me to think on, he already knew his place in Saudi Arabia as a Shia minority, but with all our forces standing by while Saddam did his handy work. This sickened me and still does. And then to use the 300,000 mass graves in a half truth to justify an unprovoked war, it’s just too much. Since we are talking about Shia and Sunni, are you aware that of all the people you saw come across the (Saudi) border to run away from Saddam when he invaded Kuwait, 99% were Sunni Muslims and the Shia stayed in Kuwait even though they make up about half the population of Kuwait. They were not welcome.
There is an organization called the Muslim brotherhood, 200-300 years old, Very much like Al-Qaeda but maybe more fundamentalist and violent. Saddam Hussein rejected Fundamentalism 35 years ago, that’s why he was a member of the baath political party, a liberal socialist party, why Iraq has female Doctors and Lawyers and female scientists. He was a natural enemy of the fundamentalist. The fact he let one small group that live near the Kurds and mostly fight against them is very normal in the Middle East. The different groups and people of all the countries in the Middle East are complicated. Most rulers use their minorities to one degree or another, event to fight against one another. If they become a threat as the Muslim Brotherhood did in Syria in the 1980, you do as President Hafez Al-Assad did; he simple killed 30,000 men, women and children in two villages. Problem solved. During the mad rush to war in Iraq I must admit I was upset, ashamed and concerned for our nation.
All the news channels and leadership of congress and the administration and the military went all out in this propaganda effort to portray Saddam as the most evil of all leaders, using half truths as I’ve said before and selective history and fear to build a case for war. Some TV news shows got to the point of being disgusting with young kids, male and female, treating it almost like a football game and joke. Explaining how we would do this and that and rain bombs down in a show of awe, with not a hint that what really was being talking about was bringing death and destruction to a people and to destroy their lives and kill men ,women and children. Of course Saddam was easy to picture that way, but when ever I said to people. " War is hell we should not be acting like this. " Always the comeback was, "What about the 3000 Americans in the towers ? " Anyone that spoke a word of caution was not a patriot. Old allies became the enemy because they were more cautious.
I honestly believe Americans should reflect now that this generation is getting to watch on TV the cost of war, understand that war is simply hell on earth and human beings killing each other. Your throat cut on video or your child blown to bits by a bomb. It makes no difference. War is always human beings at their worst, after men have failed the test of leadership. War is not something to be proud of. For those that were seeking revenge, how short lived the joy, when the 9/11 commission tells you Iraq had nothing to do with the killing of our people. If you want to understand the war on terrorism, my next subject, then just ponder on the lives destroyed and the body bags of our own coming home that the government don’t even want you to see. All for the sake of a policy, ill conceived. Understand its all about power, money, and oil, and the maintaining of the status quo.
Iraq is a 2000 year old civilization, they're proud, they have a culture, they are Muslims and we are mostly not. They have their own way of day to day living and family structure and we can not go in and destroy everything, disband their army, kill large numbers of non-combatants and expect all will be well because we are good and Saddam was bad. This is completely unintelligent and wrong.
War on Terrorism: = The American people are being asked to suspend civil liberties. Young men & women are being encouraged to join in the military, candidates for political office are attempting to out do each other on asking for yet more money to fight terrorism. This is the most important part of my letter to you. Something I believe at least worthy of consideration. A real plan of action which will gain results. First of all - fear can not rule our lives or the policies of a great nation. The concept of pre-emptive strikes is wrong and dangerous. It does not represent the fact that we are the only superpower in the world today; it makes us appear and be something we are not. It does not represent our law or our culture or the Christian values our nation is built on. Everyone knows an eye for an eye, but what happened to other values like "Love your enemy" and "Blessed is the peacemaker"?
Now Russia is starting a pre-emptive strike policy. Israel has one. Who gave these governments and our government the right to be judge and jury and executioner and of who’s law? Law of the jungle, might is right. That means we as a people are going backwards, not advancing forward which happens when men live by the laws of God and men. Most of you are aware of a string of attacks by Al-Qaeda and Bin Laden that led up to 9/11. The one in Saudi Arabia against our military was a truck bomb near a housing complex in Dhahran. Saudi Arabia. Within 24 hrs I too drove by the area, driving with-in a few hundred meters of the blast. I guess because I could and I wanted to see what had happen. That was a botched investigation and the truth has never been known. Now it is blamed on Al-Qaeda. But there was Shia Muslim involvement in it, that much is admitted. But Shia and Al-Qaeda do not mix. It’s a little like oil and water. I personally believe the Dhahran bombing was in revenge for allowing Saddam to put down the Shia up-rising and the killing of thousands. The Saudi Government would never want it known that Shia could do such a thing in Saudi Arabia because that would mean they had power. In Saudi Arabia event the number of Shia in the nation is a secret. It’s not a secret that the Saudi government never did work with our FBI. Then their was the embassy booming in Africa and then the booming of the USS Cole in Yemen and finally 9/11 with 17 of the terrorists came from one of our closes friends in the middle east, Saudi Arabia.
You are asked to fight this war and yet the government can not tell you who are these people, and why they want to hurt and kill our people. The name terrorist is being applied to many today. There is always a why. In Iraq today any resistance to the occupation is called terrorists. Our plan seems to be kill them all, as the way to win. That’s impossible and inhuman and totally lacking in any values we claim to have. We are become the same as terrorists ourselves. It’s not the hard core terrorist that concerns me, with out any justification and support of the masses they dry up and die. But they do have support, their acts may be repugnant to their supporters but there is a support, there is a reason why they give support. This is where we must begin.
The oldest and most widely reported terrorism for years now is in Israel and Palestine. The occupation of a people under military rule for 40 years is intolerable. When ever in history there has been occupation there was always resistance. After 40 years the occupation and resistance both have become so brutal it is repulsive. The insanity of it all is like a bad movie and has desensitized the people and the world. As the years have gone by the brutality has only become greater, vows of retaliation back and forth like a bad movie. But it’s not a movie. It's reality.
All wars and 40 years of occupation bring out the very worst of human beings. In Israel there is a powerful debate going on concerning who they have become as a people. The Jewish people survive for thousands of years of history suffered all conceivable injustices but thru their faith in their God they survived a special people. Many feel they are becoming what they always were against, the instrument of injustice. They know to remain a democracy they can not keep the occupied lands. But strong forces oppose the people . Vested interests of power, money and people with extreme views so far have carried the day. There are people in our country that I hope simply do not understand, but some believe that our conceived enemy just doesn’t value life as we do or have the families and feelings we have.
Many years ago during the Vietnam War many felt that way about the Vietnamese. That the Vietcong were heartless deranged people with no sense of value to life. It was not true. I can tell you that I asked for the hand of a Vietnamese women, to be my wife. We married and I have been blessed for 34 years by her extraordinary values and character. We have 4 children and I have been going back to visit Vietnam since 1990. I know Vietnam and its people very well and I can swear to you the Vietnamese people are maybe one of the most family oriented people in the world. The extent that I have witnessed them to sacrifice and care and give to each other all thru adult life, real help and love one to another in large extended families is unparalleled with anything I’ve seen anywhere in this world. The emotions and feelings of love, joy, hardship and loss are universal but some nations have stronger families. Why? Because they live and die by the family as there is no other support group. They simply share, and it’s true throughout much of the 3rd world. It’s also true in the Arab world, family is everything. The loss of a son or father or uncle or child is the same for them as it is for us. For them often it also has unbelievable long term financial costs. Every terrorist we kill has a family, every Iraqi we kill in these endless bombing raids of Falluja and Sadr City that kills women and children along with the fighters; they all come from a family.
For years we have witnessed how the Israeli’s kill one more Palestinian fighter and five more come forward as willing combatants. Now we ourselves are in the same situation killing Iraqis and the resistance keeps growing. The most important thing of all to understand is this, we are not killing animals in this war on terrorism and in Afghanistan and Iraq, but human beings, every terrorist is someone's son or daughter, brother or sister, husband or wife. Women and children can not be expectable collateral damage. Their loss of a loved one is just as devastating to them as the loss of one of are solders is to our families. The pain and hurt and empty hole in the heart never goes away for years. War is hell, war is what happens after men and leaders have failed. War can never be something to be proud of because it’s a failure of men to reason together, war should never be engaged in unless you are invaded or attacked by another nation, always the very last resort of all. I’ve written about my own experience as a combatant in war and the difficulty in being the survivor. But the truth is combatants are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the suffering and hardship of war. Always in all wars it’s the women & children and the old that suffer the most, and the results last a lifetime.
Who is a terrorist; the one that turns him or herself into a human bomb to kill his perceived enemy or the one that fires his rocket, drops his bombs into a crowded village or city? To me there is no difference, both are terrorist events, both with intent to kill the enemy often along with the innocents. The human bomb takes a totally committed person to his cause, looks so desperate and sad and repelling all at the same time. The other takes a highly educated person with many support people and budgets. It seems so clean and detached from our senses, like a movie. But they both bring death and destruction with the intent to kill and destroy.
I am an American citizen and I plead to you:
To the person that has been made into a human bomb, about to get on a bus in Israel. Please understand your act will not right any wrong done, your death and the killing of more Jews will only harden the resolve of your family and their families. Your younger brother or sister will grieve at your going and only dream to follow you. The families of the Jews will only swear to kill your family.
I am an American citizen and I plead to you:
The Chechen widow going on to an airplane or into the Moscow sub-way. To kill these Russian children and mothers & fathers. This will not bring back your husband and children, your father and mother, your dignity. The injustice on you and your family will not be righted by another act of vengeance. I struggle to understand what it must be to have no more life when you have lost too much and there is a hole in your very soul. But in the name of your God try to understand sharing this pain on a Russian family will not change anything. You must believe that God will deal with this. You must live as a witness to injustice. The world will change, the injustice you bear will not last, and it can’t last because it’s evil, do not join in the evil.
I am an American citizen and I plead to you:
The Russian commander of the long range artillery pieces. Before you let another volley of shell off into a quiet valley, soon to become a grave yard filled with Chechen rebels or maybe just people of the area. Know in your heart that the Russian people have struggled to bring the Chechen people to heal for 100 years but their spirit and their right is for self rule. New thinking in a new Russia must prevail. The world is changing and might is not right. Those that serve the slaughter will only pray and live to take revenge. After so much killing someone has to say enough, enough already.
I am an American citizen and I plead to you:
The Kashmir fighter planning your next attack of death, understand your cause is history. The people of India and Pakistan already know the fight for Kashmir is a dead issue. Improving the living conditions and life of the people and joining in a world community of business and trade is the future. After so much sacrifice and death it may seem impossible that it was all for nothing. It’s a failure of the world community that for fifty years a UN approved vote could never be taken. A new time has come already and all understand it’s in the interest of both India and Pakistan people to put away this issue. New and educated and aware leaders will come and a peaceful way will be found to this old conflict. One more run of killing will only leave blood on your hands that will not wash off. Have faith in the future and put your effort into peaceful means. It was by peaceful resolve your two nations together found freedom from foreign rule.
I am an American citizen and plead to you:
The Israeli pilot, about to fire your missiles into the target to kill one more suspected leader of the Hamas. Understand that you do not know if he is sitting with his child on his lap or his mother or wife by his side. Yes he is your declared enemy but in killing him you usually kill the others. Making you no different then the enemy you hate. There is another way. You need courage to follow it. A great debate is going on with-in your nation as to what the Jewish state should be. You already know to kill one more will only bring five more dedicated to fight on in this endless rage. There has to be another way. The Jewish people are the only ones that can bring peace. God has blessed you with strength, you yourself have built a highly educated and respected nation. The people of forty years in the wilderness can not inflict forty years of occupation on another people.
I am an American citizen and I plead to you:
The Iraq resistance fighter, before you give your life to kill another Iraq citizen attempting to find employment as a police man or National Guard recruit. Understand that your fear that a new government with a new police and national guards will not be able to do as before. The new Iraq can not be won by violence. Even if it appears that my government is intent on setting up a strong man answerable to them it will not happen. More than one nation has overcome occupation by peaceful means. Peaceful and large demonstrations by the people have far more impact in the world then another killing, as does the vote. The days of military and police control of a people is coming to an end. These new police and guardsmen will not follow orders to kill and imprison you. Power from the use of violence will not work. You must work with all the people of Iraq’s and believe that democracy will work event it may not look like ours. The will of the people will prevail. The Iraq people are a tolerant people, very capable and must put away violence. Leave vengeance to God and move forward to self rule and regain the natural place in history as one of the oldest and greatest Arab nations. The American people are not a bad people and you know this. Polices of our government will change. A civil war among the people of Iraq would only bring endless years of war. You must save yourself. None of your neighbors will allow one group or another to dominate, or for any small nation to be born. You must hold together as one Iraq, you have all suffered together the games of history. Move on to be great nation again and lead the whole Arab world forward. This is my prayer for you.
I am an American citizen and I pray for you:
Our American Marines & Soldiers and Pilots. Yet again on a mission to flush our suspected terrorist, resistance fighter, maybe your job is to drop the next bomb, or drive the next tank thru hells gate. Your job is to fight the enemy, show mercy to the civilians, and stay alive. War is hell and you’re in the middle of it, asked to do the impossible, serve your nation, win the war, and lay down your life. As a military man it’s not for you to ask why, but to follow orders. With out order and honor and professionalism you would not be an army of our great nation. War is hell many will say. You know war is hell because you are in it and everyday you have to make decisions with no time to think who will live and who will die, when will a second of hesitation cost your friend his life, when will a moment of over zealous action take a life that could have been spared. This war as all wars will look quite different 10 or 20 years from know. You will remember it however as yesterday. Everyday you serve with honor, you do help and improve the life of the people with thousands of acts of kindness and projects that help all and these will be the good things you will remember. Your effort and sacrifices will not be wasted, you will not be forgotten. I have read many articles written by you the soldiers in Iraq. How proud you feel and know in your heart it’s the right thing to do. Keep on believing that, it’s the small personal things and actions that will last for years and years. The good you can do will be the things you will quietly remember when you grow old. I can tell you from my life, when as a Marine I would go to a distant village in the jungle and the medic would do sick call and some other efforts General Lou Walt of the Marine Corp had us do to win the people of Vietnam in that war. Wonderful memories of doing the right thing in the middle of war. I also am in an impossible situation. To support you on a very personal level and disagree with the political actions that put you in this war in the first place. You may not understand me today but one day you will.
I am an American citizen and I ask you:
My fellow Americans to consider another way. After (9/11) what should have been done ? Maybe this would have been a better action. Our President should have given a truthful explanation to the people how we got to this point where such violent acts could be carried out with people willing to die and to kill thousands in one act. How some of our actions from the cold war and policy’s have had negative effects on people. How some of our supposed friends had little in common with us and did not represent our values. And he should put us and the world on notice those days are over. If a person or a nation has made mistakes it’s a necessary thing to speak the truth, their may have been reasons for many things and why we did them. But are the reasons valid today.
For some it may seem insulting but all people and nations make mistakes. In our personal lives we can not change much until we are honest with ourselves. Our nation is just shared values held together by man's laws. We are different then most other nations which usually are a people that made a nation. We are a nation that has made a people. The American people, a mix of races and religions but a very distinct? people. Do you know how proud I am when men I work with from other nations tell me. (You know I like to work with you Americans, your open, hard workers, few hang-ups) What I’ve experienced is my many years overseas. The vast majority of the people of this world do not hate us. They respect us and the things we have done. They love our spirit, our laws and in general know we will do the right thing. This good will America gained over a long time should not be taken lightly. It’s powerful.
Since 9/11 some very misguided people will tell you the world hates you. That is a lie. The people of the world may disagree at times about our policies but hate us no. They don’t understand what’s happen to this nation of laws, leader of principled actions. They long to see us lead our world thru yet another difficult time but they know we are over reacting and not facing the truth about some of our polices.
Our nation should trade but have little else to do with any nation that does not represent our values of basic human rights, freedom of religion for their minorities. If a nations government dose not look like the majority of its people and dose not observe these basic human rights to its people and minorities then we should not trade with them. If they are doing harm or let harm come to groups of minorities then we should work actively with the UN and other nations to stop it. Even the use of the military force could be required but only as a member of the UN. How and to whom our foreign aid and military aid goes should be scrutinized by congress in open debate that all can see. Military aid should be almost zero as military powers and large armies and the latest jet fighter are becoming less important. Military force can only destroy and kill but has become very limited in the ability to control people. All armies are for deterrence. When any nation has to use its army against another nation the leaders and the world have already failed. After the killing and destruction in the end they will have to talk, that is what history has shows us.
America should review all its commitments and its support for nations that are in occupation of other people and their land. Certainly any nation that is in open conflict with another nation needs to be reviewed. We should review our troop and military deployments in particular our deployment in the region of the Middle East and Korea. In the Middle East it’s mostly because of the conflict in Iraq and the prospective of such a large number of the Arab people is that it’s for control and in Korea it’s a 50 year old war and is counter productive. North Korea is a very poor nation and they are not an expansionary power, they can not even feed themselves yet are perceived as a nation that may strike out at us or Japan. Its time for a new approach. In particular we should be very careful about how we are perceived by the people of any and all nations when we grant support to them. We must always look for what is the right thing to do for helping a nation and not be to closely associated with one political party or another. Our help has to be to a nation not a political party or against another nation that may have a different system.
Our President and congress should come together and declare a plan for energy self reliance with-in ten years. An action that would be heard around the world. It would require, drilling in our costal water off Florida, California and in Alaska. We have the technology to do it right. It would mean a 200 billion dollar bill for research and development of alternative energy. It would require telling the auto makers to double the fuel mileage per gal. in three years. It would mean a 100 % tax if you just had to have your monster truck and SUV. It would mean a tax break for fuel efficient cars. It would mean jobs and ramping up our industry and build, (not import rail systems) so we could come up at least to other national mass transportation systems which when you looked at your home town you know that in 20 to 30 years from now if we do nothing what kind of city or home town will you have. By doing so we can move on to lead the world into a new energy age. Find, develop & produce to sell to the world. Instead of compete only for dwindling resources that are harmful to the environment. Many nations would be affected; future conflicts for resources maybe could be prevented.
Our national election is in a little over two weeks, I believe we need a new president. A new team with new ideals. The world is in constant change, we can not cling to the status quo, inflexible policy, doing the bidding of voting blocks & special interest and for the sake of pride refuse to acknowledge some changes to policy must be made. This type of thinking will not bring us forward. Foremost to me is that we must get the money out of politics. Until we can do that many of our problems will never be fixed, things like getting voter participation up to 70% by of electronic voting on your computer at home, or at the ATM at your bank are vital. If the people are to be heard and we are a democracy then new ways are needed. Public financing for all national office is another thing to consider.
I have some opinions but not all the answers, no one does. But together we can find common goals and the path to reach them. It’s taken me 35 years to get off my back side and share my options and tell you what I saw and know from experience. Maybe by sharing our experience, knowledge and opinions we can make a difference in our country that we all love and leave this world a better place.
I ask you to have an open mind and consider for a moment, are we doing the right thing and is the direction of our nation the correct one. Can’t we do better for the sake of our children and grandchildren? Thank You for taking the time for allowing me to say what I had to say. Richard L Iverson, Your fellow American
"I BESEECH YOU, IN THE BOWELS OF CHRIST. THINK IT POSSIBLE YOU MAY BE MISTAKEN." -Oliver Cromwell.
To my fellow Americans:
For many years I’ve wanted to tell you what I’ve learned in my life, often on the front line of American foreign policy. I’m not a writer, but the events since 9/11 and now with an election close at hand I feel I must try hard to tell what I have saw and know to be true. I have 5 grandchildren. What type of country and world will they grow up in? I do have concern for our nation and that is why I do this, I am not reviewing anything that can not be found in a library. I simply ask you consider these things with an open mind, just honestly think and ask yourself, are we doing the right thing?
Since I have been so frustrated. On 9/11 = Like you I was at work when someone said "you got to see what is on the TV." I witnessed the second jet flight into the second tower building. Unlike you, I knew within seconds it was Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden. I was not surprised by the use of passenger jets as WMD as I had read in a Saudi Arabian English newspaper of just such a plan maybe 4-5 years before. My only surprise was the fact that 17 of the hi-jack terrorists were Saudi nationals - I guess because of my living among the Saudis for 20 years, leaving there in early 1999. I had known the problems of Saudi Arabia but also know them as very peaceful people, down trodden people that complain to me, a foreigner, bitterly about their plight. Now that has changed. I know 9/11 has many meanings to different people, to me among other things it was the moment when America could no longer allow the government to run foreign policy without the people understanding the basic policy and the reasons and effects on others. Since 9/11 I have never heard a single honest explanation to our people how we got to this point in our history.
Some would have you believe that Bin Laden and company just woke one day and hated America and our way of life. No one has talked about the root cause. There is always a why. Most important is why they have strong support from thousands and if not support, a deep understanding or tactical support of millions around the world. Its not hatred and revenge, (hatred and revenge are a poison that will destroy the holder and can only inspire a few). The point is many of the terrorists operate out of a sincere belief that something is so wrong, convinced no change will happen without such acts. Convinced their cause is worthy to die for. Often for the rank and file possibly the motivation is an injustice that no one seems to notice. I’m sure some are just filled with hate and some other has just slipped from the family’s grasp and meets others that fill their minds with untrue doctrine.
Desperation and war and occupation, and the world’s blind eye to see many injustices all have come together. There is no question in my mind that some of our policies over the years have had a direct effect and is part of the root cause of the threat we now face. Policies used during the cold war when we supported many unscrupulous leaders and governments and didn’t much concern ourselves about the people.
What I can tell you is when I first heard of Bin Laden 23 years ago. One of my fellow workers came to work very up set. On talking with him he told me how Bin Laden wanted one son for holy war in Afghanistan to fight the godless Russians. If he gave one son it was good and if he didn’t well the peer pressure was great. You have to understand in Saudi Arabia being faithful muslin is everything? Another time is a story of a young man witch is very reflective of what I saw a lot of. But this is about a young man I worked with. He used to drink, lived a party life, kind of a typical oil field young worker. Then he changed, he grow a long beard, he became very faithful in his daily prayers, became an excellent worker and went on to become a rig foreman. Very much like a person who become a born again Christian. Belief in his God gave his life meaning and purpose, positive things all could see and respect. I talked to him about his change in life. He proudly told of becoming a true believer, how a great leader would come from Afghanistan and throw off the yoke of the corrupt Royal family and do away with all the hypocrisy we both could see all around us, all would one day change.
When I first arrived in Saudi Arabia in 1978 about 10% of the older men wore long beards to show they were true believers and prayer leaders etc. When I left 20 years later 99 % of the males old enough to have facial hair had a beard or something. It was their sign of being against the government and to be true believers.
For 20 years I watched TV in Saudi Arabia and the same script played out every week. Some world leader, UN official, US congressmen, US senators, US President and Vic Presidents, Generals, Corporation CEO’s , University presidents, every conceivable organizations came. They would have a meeting with the King or crown prince in Riyadh the capital, exchanges pleasantries and letters then off to Dhahran the oil center of Saudi Arabia. On to Aramco and visit the first oil well. Then home, always with a program funded, a contract, a grant, or a favor if not for their organization then one for a brother in law or friend. (Saudi Arabia purchased respectability.) We even sent a Royal prince into space. All that time no one notices the people as they became less and less happy with their lot in life. I saw basic slavery in some cases and total injustice and unbelievable discrimination. I saw many unpleasant things and total absence of basic human rights.
Oh it was great if you just counted your money and didn’t get involved. I left Saudi Arabia before I should have financially. I got over involved in doing what I felt I should do. In the end it became clear to me it was best I go home. Oh I’ve been face to face and toe to toe with radical men filled with anger and hate of me, I’ve been face to face with executives that practiced blatant discrimination. But I also spent thousands of hrs. working and living life with Saudis and other Arabs, sharing our stories about our families and lives, I’ve talked for hrs with younger Saudis about the future and old men about the past. Am I an expert on the Middle East? I will just tell you this.
I have watched TV as you have, listening to the so called experts with all kind of degrees. I realize they have degrees but don’t have the understanding. Maybe they just never had the chance to share thousands of meals with the people they're suppose to be experts about. I sometimes think if all the experts only have degrees and little experience, well that could be bad. Afghanistan = War came to them about 1979 when the USSR invaded and set up a puppet government. For most Americans it meant we didn’t go to the Olympics.
That was the beginning of our involvement. When we had everything to do with arming, training, supplying and encouraging the holy worriers to fight the Godless Russians in our last hot war of the cold war. The Mujahedin fought hard and bravely. Osama Bin Laden was one of them. They took few prisoners and beheading of Russian solders was commonplace, only back then they used a Kodak camera and made sure the people of Russia saw them. Every Russian solder know his capture would mean death by beheading. When it was against the USSR in the cold war it was OK, or was it ???
The same thing you see in Iraq today went on in Afghanistan 25 years ago. After the USSR was defeated, we basically left Afghanistan. Oh we support one group after another. Pakistan was our main point of support with the arms and money all going thru them. I watched and read and worked with men from the area. All the old war lords’ names are not new to me. I watched as the war lords switched side time and again, always with Saudi money. Even I think to myself I should had known something big was up when they finally killed Masud the Northern alliance leader just two day before 9/11. He was to me the one true Afghan patriot, (just my observation.)
Americans lost little sleep over the fact we used Afghanistan to fight this last battle of the cold war. But the reality is the people of Afghanistan paid an unbelievable price in life and lost generation after generation because their nation became the center point of a war between the us and the USSR. Thirty years of suffering and grief. We hardly noticed until 9/11.
I supported our war in Afghanistan after 9/11. I hoped we would take the whole country, then invest heavily to repair it and provide the security needed so they could set up their own type of government and the world could see the positive results. The United States of America had 95% of the world with us in that effort. We had been attached from their, Bin Laden’s base of operation was their, ?? The Taliban (who we helped to come to power) had become an embarrassment to the Islamic world and only Saudi Arabia recognized them. Quite frankly we owed it to the people of Afghanistan and the world community would have helped us a great deal. And the war against Al-Qaeda would have been greatly strengthened.
Instead we purchased the war lords (drug lords) and were in a rush to win and say we had won. Today we control Kabul and little else. We rush to move on to a war on Iraq and used lies and half truths to convince the American people Saddam Hussein was somehow behind 9/11 and about to strike us again. This is un-forgivable. All because of some right wing dreams of yesterday. What kind of freedom did we bring to Afghanistan? We can’t provide security for elections, the war lords sell their drugs and protect their interest and again no one sees the people. The future of Afghanistan is unknown and it’s the one place we should have planted our foot, and the seed of goodwill. Regardless of the fact they have no oil.
Iraq = What a sad story; We rushed to war against one of the oldest historical people in the world, with one of the most complicated mixes of people to make up one nation; A result of the days of colonial rule and the setting up of puppet governments to maintain control. But the American people went along, 80 % of them convinced Saddam Hussein some how had something to do with 9/11 and feeling he was an eminent threat to our national security.
Its kind of like Humpty dumpy and all the Kings men, the egg has fallen off the wall and all the kings’ men can’t put it back together again. Some want you to believe it was bad intelligence for the mistakes made. But the truth is it was a total lack of intelligent thinking on the part of our leaders. How can we go from a stand against a superpower like the USSR who had nukes and delivery systems yet be afraid of a tin horn dictator with no air force, no navy and no missiles? Saddam Hussein had illusions of grandeur. We know this man well; we dealt with Saddam as a friend and an enemy for 25 years. In the 80’s we supported him with everything including satellite photos of Iranian troop movements during the Iran - Iraq war.
Saddam was aware 20 years ago we could read his license plate from space. We supported him event as he gassed the Iranians. We vetoed a vote on a resolution at the UN for Iraq, about his use of poison gas in that war. He gassed his own people the Kurds, because they were join with the Iranians, and we never said a word about it. Then in a mad rush to war as if this man was about to jump out and get us, the government, the military, started telling half truths about Saddam and how bad he was. Yes he was bad but he was always bad, but never crazy.
For me the sick side of the half truths is the 300,000 mass graves. The government never tells you the vast majority of those graves came about after the Gulf War-1, after we defeated him in Kuwait. With in days, with all our mighty forces still there, we sat back and watched Saddam put down the Shia up-rising against him because that was the reason he was left in power, to keep the Shia from coming to power. Saddam knew we were watching him, he knew that was his job and he did it well. Our only problem was we felt someone else would take Saddam's place but he never let that happen. He ran a ruthless show to keep it from happening.
I did see with my own eyes the truck loads of supplies going to Iraq for several years during the Iran / Iraq war. There is only one road north from the ports of Saudi and we used them also for our oil rigs. Saudi Arabia had a lot of both Sunni and Shia citizens that traveled back and forth and married. I know people from both religious sects. That war of course killed one million Iranian’s and about 300,000 Iraqis. That war made enemies of the Shia and Sunni I worked with. When Saddam was putting down the Shias I had more then one Shia come to me and ask. Why do you let them kill us, kill my people. The truth was, the why was for me to think on, he already knew his place in Saudi Arabia as a Shia minority, but with all our forces standing by while Saddam did his handy work. This sickened me and still does. And then to use the 300,000 mass graves in a half truth to justify an unprovoked war, it’s just too much. Since we are talking about Shia and Sunni, are you aware that of all the people you saw come across the (Saudi) border to run away from Saddam when he invaded Kuwait, 99% were Sunni Muslims and the Shia stayed in Kuwait even though they make up about half the population of Kuwait. They were not welcome.
There is an organization called the Muslim brotherhood, 200-300 years old, Very much like Al-Qaeda but maybe more fundamentalist and violent. Saddam Hussein rejected Fundamentalism 35 years ago, that’s why he was a member of the baath political party, a liberal socialist party, why Iraq has female Doctors and Lawyers and female scientists. He was a natural enemy of the fundamentalist. The fact he let one small group that live near the Kurds and mostly fight against them is very normal in the Middle East. The different groups and people of all the countries in the Middle East are complicated. Most rulers use their minorities to one degree or another, event to fight against one another. If they become a threat as the Muslim Brotherhood did in Syria in the 1980, you do as President Hafez Al-Assad did; he simple killed 30,000 men, women and children in two villages. Problem solved. During the mad rush to war in Iraq I must admit I was upset, ashamed and concerned for our nation.
All the news channels and leadership of congress and the administration and the military went all out in this propaganda effort to portray Saddam as the most evil of all leaders, using half truths as I’ve said before and selective history and fear to build a case for war. Some TV news shows got to the point of being disgusting with young kids, male and female, treating it almost like a football game and joke. Explaining how we would do this and that and rain bombs down in a show of awe, with not a hint that what really was being talking about was bringing death and destruction to a people and to destroy their lives and kill men ,women and children. Of course Saddam was easy to picture that way, but when ever I said to people. " War is hell we should not be acting like this. " Always the comeback was, "What about the 3000 Americans in the towers ? " Anyone that spoke a word of caution was not a patriot. Old allies became the enemy because they were more cautious.
I honestly believe Americans should reflect now that this generation is getting to watch on TV the cost of war, understand that war is simply hell on earth and human beings killing each other. Your throat cut on video or your child blown to bits by a bomb. It makes no difference. War is always human beings at their worst, after men have failed the test of leadership. War is not something to be proud of. For those that were seeking revenge, how short lived the joy, when the 9/11 commission tells you Iraq had nothing to do with the killing of our people. If you want to understand the war on terrorism, my next subject, then just ponder on the lives destroyed and the body bags of our own coming home that the government don’t even want you to see. All for the sake of a policy, ill conceived. Understand its all about power, money, and oil, and the maintaining of the status quo.
Iraq is a 2000 year old civilization, they're proud, they have a culture, they are Muslims and we are mostly not. They have their own way of day to day living and family structure and we can not go in and destroy everything, disband their army, kill large numbers of non-combatants and expect all will be well because we are good and Saddam was bad. This is completely unintelligent and wrong.
War on Terrorism: = The American people are being asked to suspend civil liberties. Young men & women are being encouraged to join in the military, candidates for political office are attempting to out do each other on asking for yet more money to fight terrorism. This is the most important part of my letter to you. Something I believe at least worthy of consideration. A real plan of action which will gain results. First of all - fear can not rule our lives or the policies of a great nation. The concept of pre-emptive strikes is wrong and dangerous. It does not represent the fact that we are the only superpower in the world today; it makes us appear and be something we are not. It does not represent our law or our culture or the Christian values our nation is built on. Everyone knows an eye for an eye, but what happened to other values like "Love your enemy" and "Blessed is the peacemaker"?
Now Russia is starting a pre-emptive strike policy. Israel has one. Who gave these governments and our government the right to be judge and jury and executioner and of who’s law? Law of the jungle, might is right. That means we as a people are going backwards, not advancing forward which happens when men live by the laws of God and men. Most of you are aware of a string of attacks by Al-Qaeda and Bin Laden that led up to 9/11. The one in Saudi Arabia against our military was a truck bomb near a housing complex in Dhahran. Saudi Arabia. Within 24 hrs I too drove by the area, driving with-in a few hundred meters of the blast. I guess because I could and I wanted to see what had happen. That was a botched investigation and the truth has never been known. Now it is blamed on Al-Qaeda. But there was Shia Muslim involvement in it, that much is admitted. But Shia and Al-Qaeda do not mix. It’s a little like oil and water. I personally believe the Dhahran bombing was in revenge for allowing Saddam to put down the Shia up-rising and the killing of thousands. The Saudi Government would never want it known that Shia could do such a thing in Saudi Arabia because that would mean they had power. In Saudi Arabia event the number of Shia in the nation is a secret. It’s not a secret that the Saudi government never did work with our FBI. Then their was the embassy booming in Africa and then the booming of the USS Cole in Yemen and finally 9/11 with 17 of the terrorists came from one of our closes friends in the middle east, Saudi Arabia.
You are asked to fight this war and yet the government can not tell you who are these people, and why they want to hurt and kill our people. The name terrorist is being applied to many today. There is always a why. In Iraq today any resistance to the occupation is called terrorists. Our plan seems to be kill them all, as the way to win. That’s impossible and inhuman and totally lacking in any values we claim to have. We are become the same as terrorists ourselves. It’s not the hard core terrorist that concerns me, with out any justification and support of the masses they dry up and die. But they do have support, their acts may be repugnant to their supporters but there is a support, there is a reason why they give support. This is where we must begin.
The oldest and most widely reported terrorism for years now is in Israel and Palestine. The occupation of a people under military rule for 40 years is intolerable. When ever in history there has been occupation there was always resistance. After 40 years the occupation and resistance both have become so brutal it is repulsive. The insanity of it all is like a bad movie and has desensitized the people and the world. As the years have gone by the brutality has only become greater, vows of retaliation back and forth like a bad movie. But it’s not a movie. It's reality.
All wars and 40 years of occupation bring out the very worst of human beings. In Israel there is a powerful debate going on concerning who they have become as a people. The Jewish people survive for thousands of years of history suffered all conceivable injustices but thru their faith in their God they survived a special people. Many feel they are becoming what they always were against, the instrument of injustice. They know to remain a democracy they can not keep the occupied lands. But strong forces oppose the people . Vested interests of power, money and people with extreme views so far have carried the day. There are people in our country that I hope simply do not understand, but some believe that our conceived enemy just doesn’t value life as we do or have the families and feelings we have.
Many years ago during the Vietnam War many felt that way about the Vietnamese. That the Vietcong were heartless deranged people with no sense of value to life. It was not true. I can tell you that I asked for the hand of a Vietnamese women, to be my wife. We married and I have been blessed for 34 years by her extraordinary values and character. We have 4 children and I have been going back to visit Vietnam since 1990. I know Vietnam and its people very well and I can swear to you the Vietnamese people are maybe one of the most family oriented people in the world. The extent that I have witnessed them to sacrifice and care and give to each other all thru adult life, real help and love one to another in large extended families is unparalleled with anything I’ve seen anywhere in this world. The emotions and feelings of love, joy, hardship and loss are universal but some nations have stronger families. Why? Because they live and die by the family as there is no other support group. They simply share, and it’s true throughout much of the 3rd world. It’s also true in the Arab world, family is everything. The loss of a son or father or uncle or child is the same for them as it is for us. For them often it also has unbelievable long term financial costs. Every terrorist we kill has a family, every Iraqi we kill in these endless bombing raids of Falluja and Sadr City that kills women and children along with the fighters; they all come from a family.
For years we have witnessed how the Israeli’s kill one more Palestinian fighter and five more come forward as willing combatants. Now we ourselves are in the same situation killing Iraqis and the resistance keeps growing. The most important thing of all to understand is this, we are not killing animals in this war on terrorism and in Afghanistan and Iraq, but human beings, every terrorist is someone's son or daughter, brother or sister, husband or wife. Women and children can not be expectable collateral damage. Their loss of a loved one is just as devastating to them as the loss of one of are solders is to our families. The pain and hurt and empty hole in the heart never goes away for years. War is hell, war is what happens after men and leaders have failed. War can never be something to be proud of because it’s a failure of men to reason together, war should never be engaged in unless you are invaded or attacked by another nation, always the very last resort of all. I’ve written about my own experience as a combatant in war and the difficulty in being the survivor. But the truth is combatants are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the suffering and hardship of war. Always in all wars it’s the women & children and the old that suffer the most, and the results last a lifetime.
Who is a terrorist; the one that turns him or herself into a human bomb to kill his perceived enemy or the one that fires his rocket, drops his bombs into a crowded village or city? To me there is no difference, both are terrorist events, both with intent to kill the enemy often along with the innocents. The human bomb takes a totally committed person to his cause, looks so desperate and sad and repelling all at the same time. The other takes a highly educated person with many support people and budgets. It seems so clean and detached from our senses, like a movie. But they both bring death and destruction with the intent to kill and destroy.
I am an American citizen and I plead to you:
To the person that has been made into a human bomb, about to get on a bus in Israel. Please understand your act will not right any wrong done, your death and the killing of more Jews will only harden the resolve of your family and their families. Your younger brother or sister will grieve at your going and only dream to follow you. The families of the Jews will only swear to kill your family.
I am an American citizen and I plead to you:
The Chechen widow going on to an airplane or into the Moscow sub-way. To kill these Russian children and mothers & fathers. This will not bring back your husband and children, your father and mother, your dignity. The injustice on you and your family will not be righted by another act of vengeance. I struggle to understand what it must be to have no more life when you have lost too much and there is a hole in your very soul. But in the name of your God try to understand sharing this pain on a Russian family will not change anything. You must believe that God will deal with this. You must live as a witness to injustice. The world will change, the injustice you bear will not last, and it can’t last because it’s evil, do not join in the evil.
I am an American citizen and I plead to you:
The Russian commander of the long range artillery pieces. Before you let another volley of shell off into a quiet valley, soon to become a grave yard filled with Chechen rebels or maybe just people of the area. Know in your heart that the Russian people have struggled to bring the Chechen people to heal for 100 years but their spirit and their right is for self rule. New thinking in a new Russia must prevail. The world is changing and might is not right. Those that serve the slaughter will only pray and live to take revenge. After so much killing someone has to say enough, enough already.
I am an American citizen and I plead to you:
The Kashmir fighter planning your next attack of death, understand your cause is history. The people of India and Pakistan already know the fight for Kashmir is a dead issue. Improving the living conditions and life of the people and joining in a world community of business and trade is the future. After so much sacrifice and death it may seem impossible that it was all for nothing. It’s a failure of the world community that for fifty years a UN approved vote could never be taken. A new time has come already and all understand it’s in the interest of both India and Pakistan people to put away this issue. New and educated and aware leaders will come and a peaceful way will be found to this old conflict. One more run of killing will only leave blood on your hands that will not wash off. Have faith in the future and put your effort into peaceful means. It was by peaceful resolve your two nations together found freedom from foreign rule.
I am an American citizen and plead to you:
The Israeli pilot, about to fire your missiles into the target to kill one more suspected leader of the Hamas. Understand that you do not know if he is sitting with his child on his lap or his mother or wife by his side. Yes he is your declared enemy but in killing him you usually kill the others. Making you no different then the enemy you hate. There is another way. You need courage to follow it. A great debate is going on with-in your nation as to what the Jewish state should be. You already know to kill one more will only bring five more dedicated to fight on in this endless rage. There has to be another way. The Jewish people are the only ones that can bring peace. God has blessed you with strength, you yourself have built a highly educated and respected nation. The people of forty years in the wilderness can not inflict forty years of occupation on another people.
I am an American citizen and I plead to you:
The Iraq resistance fighter, before you give your life to kill another Iraq citizen attempting to find employment as a police man or National Guard recruit. Understand that your fear that a new government with a new police and national guards will not be able to do as before. The new Iraq can not be won by violence. Even if it appears that my government is intent on setting up a strong man answerable to them it will not happen. More than one nation has overcome occupation by peaceful means. Peaceful and large demonstrations by the people have far more impact in the world then another killing, as does the vote. The days of military and police control of a people is coming to an end. These new police and guardsmen will not follow orders to kill and imprison you. Power from the use of violence will not work. You must work with all the people of Iraq’s and believe that democracy will work event it may not look like ours. The will of the people will prevail. The Iraq people are a tolerant people, very capable and must put away violence. Leave vengeance to God and move forward to self rule and regain the natural place in history as one of the oldest and greatest Arab nations. The American people are not a bad people and you know this. Polices of our government will change. A civil war among the people of Iraq would only bring endless years of war. You must save yourself. None of your neighbors will allow one group or another to dominate, or for any small nation to be born. You must hold together as one Iraq, you have all suffered together the games of history. Move on to be great nation again and lead the whole Arab world forward. This is my prayer for you.
I am an American citizen and I pray for you:
Our American Marines & Soldiers and Pilots. Yet again on a mission to flush our suspected terrorist, resistance fighter, maybe your job is to drop the next bomb, or drive the next tank thru hells gate. Your job is to fight the enemy, show mercy to the civilians, and stay alive. War is hell and you’re in the middle of it, asked to do the impossible, serve your nation, win the war, and lay down your life. As a military man it’s not for you to ask why, but to follow orders. With out order and honor and professionalism you would not be an army of our great nation. War is hell many will say. You know war is hell because you are in it and everyday you have to make decisions with no time to think who will live and who will die, when will a second of hesitation cost your friend his life, when will a moment of over zealous action take a life that could have been spared. This war as all wars will look quite different 10 or 20 years from know. You will remember it however as yesterday. Everyday you serve with honor, you do help and improve the life of the people with thousands of acts of kindness and projects that help all and these will be the good things you will remember. Your effort and sacrifices will not be wasted, you will not be forgotten. I have read many articles written by you the soldiers in Iraq. How proud you feel and know in your heart it’s the right thing to do. Keep on believing that, it’s the small personal things and actions that will last for years and years. The good you can do will be the things you will quietly remember when you grow old. I can tell you from my life, when as a Marine I would go to a distant village in the jungle and the medic would do sick call and some other efforts General Lou Walt of the Marine Corp had us do to win the people of Vietnam in that war. Wonderful memories of doing the right thing in the middle of war. I also am in an impossible situation. To support you on a very personal level and disagree with the political actions that put you in this war in the first place. You may not understand me today but one day you will.
I am an American citizen and I ask you:
My fellow Americans to consider another way. After (9/11) what should have been done ? Maybe this would have been a better action. Our President should have given a truthful explanation to the people how we got to this point where such violent acts could be carried out with people willing to die and to kill thousands in one act. How some of our actions from the cold war and policy’s have had negative effects on people. How some of our supposed friends had little in common with us and did not represent our values. And he should put us and the world on notice those days are over. If a person or a nation has made mistakes it’s a necessary thing to speak the truth, their may have been reasons for many things and why we did them. But are the reasons valid today.
For some it may seem insulting but all people and nations make mistakes. In our personal lives we can not change much until we are honest with ourselves. Our nation is just shared values held together by man's laws. We are different then most other nations which usually are a people that made a nation. We are a nation that has made a people. The American people, a mix of races and religions but a very distinct? people. Do you know how proud I am when men I work with from other nations tell me. (You know I like to work with you Americans, your open, hard workers, few hang-ups) What I’ve experienced is my many years overseas. The vast majority of the people of this world do not hate us. They respect us and the things we have done. They love our spirit, our laws and in general know we will do the right thing. This good will America gained over a long time should not be taken lightly. It’s powerful.
Since 9/11 some very misguided people will tell you the world hates you. That is a lie. The people of the world may disagree at times about our policies but hate us no. They don’t understand what’s happen to this nation of laws, leader of principled actions. They long to see us lead our world thru yet another difficult time but they know we are over reacting and not facing the truth about some of our polices.
Our nation should trade but have little else to do with any nation that does not represent our values of basic human rights, freedom of religion for their minorities. If a nations government dose not look like the majority of its people and dose not observe these basic human rights to its people and minorities then we should not trade with them. If they are doing harm or let harm come to groups of minorities then we should work actively with the UN and other nations to stop it. Even the use of the military force could be required but only as a member of the UN. How and to whom our foreign aid and military aid goes should be scrutinized by congress in open debate that all can see. Military aid should be almost zero as military powers and large armies and the latest jet fighter are becoming less important. Military force can only destroy and kill but has become very limited in the ability to control people. All armies are for deterrence. When any nation has to use its army against another nation the leaders and the world have already failed. After the killing and destruction in the end they will have to talk, that is what history has shows us.
America should review all its commitments and its support for nations that are in occupation of other people and their land. Certainly any nation that is in open conflict with another nation needs to be reviewed. We should review our troop and military deployments in particular our deployment in the region of the Middle East and Korea. In the Middle East it’s mostly because of the conflict in Iraq and the prospective of such a large number of the Arab people is that it’s for control and in Korea it’s a 50 year old war and is counter productive. North Korea is a very poor nation and they are not an expansionary power, they can not even feed themselves yet are perceived as a nation that may strike out at us or Japan. Its time for a new approach. In particular we should be very careful about how we are perceived by the people of any and all nations when we grant support to them. We must always look for what is the right thing to do for helping a nation and not be to closely associated with one political party or another. Our help has to be to a nation not a political party or against another nation that may have a different system.
Our President and congress should come together and declare a plan for energy self reliance with-in ten years. An action that would be heard around the world. It would require, drilling in our costal water off Florida, California and in Alaska. We have the technology to do it right. It would mean a 200 billion dollar bill for research and development of alternative energy. It would require telling the auto makers to double the fuel mileage per gal. in three years. It would mean a 100 % tax if you just had to have your monster truck and SUV. It would mean a tax break for fuel efficient cars. It would mean jobs and ramping up our industry and build, (not import rail systems) so we could come up at least to other national mass transportation systems which when you looked at your home town you know that in 20 to 30 years from now if we do nothing what kind of city or home town will you have. By doing so we can move on to lead the world into a new energy age. Find, develop & produce to sell to the world. Instead of compete only for dwindling resources that are harmful to the environment. Many nations would be affected; future conflicts for resources maybe could be prevented.
Our national election is in a little over two weeks, I believe we need a new president. A new team with new ideals. The world is in constant change, we can not cling to the status quo, inflexible policy, doing the bidding of voting blocks & special interest and for the sake of pride refuse to acknowledge some changes to policy must be made. This type of thinking will not bring us forward. Foremost to me is that we must get the money out of politics. Until we can do that many of our problems will never be fixed, things like getting voter participation up to 70% by of electronic voting on your computer at home, or at the ATM at your bank are vital. If the people are to be heard and we are a democracy then new ways are needed. Public financing for all national office is another thing to consider.
I have some opinions but not all the answers, no one does. But together we can find common goals and the path to reach them. It’s taken me 35 years to get off my back side and share my options and tell you what I saw and know from experience. Maybe by sharing our experience, knowledge and opinions we can make a difference in our country that we all love and leave this world a better place.
I ask you to have an open mind and consider for a moment, are we doing the right thing and is the direction of our nation the correct one. Can’t we do better for the sake of our children and grandchildren? Thank You for taking the time for allowing me to say what I had to say. Richard L Iverson, Your fellow American
"I BESEECH YOU, IN THE BOWELS OF CHRIST. THINK IT POSSIBLE YOU MAY BE MISTAKEN." -Oliver Cromwell.
These our two of my pomes written over the last 30 years. i sent them to more show my thinking.
Dear Rocky & Life they say we just have one.
(Copy rights filed 2010)
I wrote this 23 years ago . I shared it with any that would read it in 2004 in the run up to the election along with my article (For the people). This was write in 1990 durning gulf war one, when Saddam Hussien invaded Kuwait. When I first found myself around with our military men, to write my feeling first came to understood as good in deal with my own feelings and war experience.
From a Vietnam Veteran: I Dedicate this to the 3600 plus men and women of our arm forces that have given their lives in our latest wars and to their loved ones.
I should not be writing a letter to you because you’re dead. Killed in Vietnam, fighting for what you believed in. Last summer I met an old friend and read a letter you had written to her. You dirty dog, she was supposed to be my girl and you were putting on the moves. God Rocky, you sounded so lonely, so tired. I don’t blame you for thinking about Nancy, she is wonderful.
Well, old friend; like you I was up in the I-Corps area, doing my Marine thing. I should have joined you in quiet peace but for some reason, call it fate, God’s will, whatever, you’re gone and I’m here alive. I often think about you. My mom sent me news clipping of your mother placing a rose at the Veteran’s Memorial. Your name’s on that memorial, and there’s also one in Washington with your name on it.
No one forgot you Rocky, and they never will. Life has been hard for your family. But you don’t want to hear about that. God blessed my family and I often wonder why its like that. I have tried to be faithful to the ideas we shared as kids. Since you have been gone, its like I could never be just another guy from Fort Collins, and for some reason my life has taken me all over this world.
I went back to Vietnam when my wounds healed up. I took care of some kids. Like you, I was a gook lover, as the tough guys called us. I ended up married to a Vietnamese lady, a wonderful person, adopted three kids and had one with Thu. Now they’re all grown up, wholesome American kids.
We lost that war Rocky, Can you believe that. I was back in Communist Vietnam a year and a half ago. My wife had an uncle who was a high ranking Viet Cong. And I met this old man and we hugged and kissed. I got drunk with a former V.C. commander that is a cousin of my wife and we drank and hugged and cried. I befriended a Russian engineer in the hotel and we toasted to friendship, to the future. But all that’s nothing, Rocky. Today there is no USSR, no Berlin Wall, and no Iron Curtain and somehow we won the big one. Do you remember when we were kids how we were going to run away and go dig tunnels under the Berlin Wall. Now there’s a movement for democracy sweeping across the world and everything’ changed. Everything but people.
I forgot to tell you I was in Vietnam when the end came, I had to run. Then later I was in Iran when it went Islamic fundamentalist, and I had to run. Rode a drilling rig up the mine-infested waters of the Gulf during the Iran-Iraq War. Sat in the sands of Saudi Arabia as missiles came in and were shot down by an anti-missile system called the Patriot. Rocky, there are names, movements, place we never talked about. Weapons you can’t believe and instant TV coverage of everything in the world live in our homes. They say we kicked butt in the Gulf last year. After so many wars they all look the same to me. But people change slower than technology, movements take time. There are many wars going on. Maybe you would be disappointed in me, I don’t even own a gun, never have since Vietnam.
Time goes on and the world and our lives change and there are wonderful new things that make life so easy. The world’s so small, it’s the information age. The micro revolution. I’ve worked and traveled the world and found all people have some basic aspirations and aspects to life that are common everywhere. Remember when we used to know we were so right and some other things were so wrong. I call it the black and white attitude. But my old friend, I’ve found so much grey in this world, in this life. I never lost my direction or understanding of who I am, but I also never declare myself as having the only correct way, there is just too mush to learn. Today we as a people are starting to understand that all our greed and wealth is destroying event our planet, our environment. We couldn't begin to see that as kids but the warning signs have been showing themselves for years now.
In some ways life’s is not all so simple anymore. It’s still beautiful and challenging but as always people have to stand for something; the thing is, the enemy isn’t just the Commies, often it’s us. I am glad I was your best friend for those few short years. It gives me extra drive to live and to do not only what I want to do, but to try to accomplish something, or at least to try to leave this world a better place. You left this world fighting for what you believed in. Your spirit of courage is for me a comfort and a call to push on for the good fight though the battle is all different now. I am sorry I could not be of much comfort to your family. It was all so overwhelming. Only today, do I have the courage to write a letter to you. They say as Vietnam Vets we’ve got all kinds of psychological problems with funny-sounding names. I sometimes laugh about that. I do know that people that felt the heat, smelled the smoke, saw the pain of battle, those people are a little different.
As in everything else there are some phonies, but that’s to be expected. We’ve had our share of phony politicians and preachers. Maybe the simple point is that we learned a little earlier than most what was important in life. Well, old friend, if you somehow get this letter, then you will know you not only did not die in vain, you have never been forgotten. If I ever do accomplish anything grand in this world, believe me, your spirit will deserve much of the credit—though I mostly do my thing in little ways with little people all over this world.
One last thing, Rocky, don’t get the wrong idea—I understand the price you paid with your life and all I can do is love life with all my strength. Appreciate all the things you never got to have. I’ll feel truly and deeply all the joys and sorrows, I’ll sing life’s songs extra loud for you, cry the extra tear over the sadness and go the extra mile to be true to the ideas we shared, and most of all, my friend, I’ll always remember you. Your old friend !
Corporal Richard L Iverson
USMC Retired Copy written 2010
*******************************************************************
From a Vietnam veteran, dedicated to the 25000 plus men and women wounded in action. Only they will understand it, if not today later.
Life they say we just have one, but I was given two. Oh how long I didn’t understand, the forces with-in. They pulled me and drove me, blessed me and burden me
Life they say we just have one, but I was given two. Cheated death in the jungles of Vietnam, most the rest with me paid there all. Spared against all odds, bleeding and helpless, sang a song of good-by to one stronger then me. But they all died, a monument we built, I have to live, my life the truth to bear.
Thankful tho I am, the burdens so heavy. Help and give, love and care, have courage and never despair. But the battle is so different, explain to whom, understand they can’t. You win you lose, but can’t ever stop, dream and work, hope and struggle, happy and sad, I know them all.
Sometimes you forget, sometimes you remember, but go away it never. You cheated death, why are you here, why oh why is life not perfect. It’s not for me, this life I live, but for them, the life they had not. You must win, go on, accomplish and live.
Life they say we just have one, but it’s not just the guys, there dead and gone. You must be strong, win over wrong, knowledge I’ve gained, so much I’ve experienced, war is over but my battle goes on.
It’s so personal, this fight I live, for others the command I was given. Our world is so different, so much is wrong. With your life you make your stand, faith and hope I have, never give up. So by faith I live and someday will die. Life they say we just have one, but I was given two.
Cpl. Richard L Iverson USMC Ret. 1990 – Saudi Arabia Copy written 201
I wrote this 23 years ago . I shared it with any that would read it in 2004 in the run up to the election along with my article (For the people). This was write in 1990 durning gulf war one, when Saddam Hussien invaded Kuwait. When I first found myself around with our military men, to write my feeling first came to understood as good in deal with my own feelings and war experience.
From a Vietnam Veteran: I Dedicate this to the 3600 plus men and women of our arm forces that have given their lives in our latest wars and to their loved ones.
Dear Rocky:
I should not be writing a letter to you because you’re dead. Killed in Vietnam, fighting for what you believed in. Last summer I met an old friend and read a letter you had written to her. You dirty dog, she was supposed to be my girl and you were putting on the moves. God Rocky, you sounded so lonely, so tired. I don’t blame you for thinking about Nancy, she is wonderful.
Well, old friend; like you I was up in the I-Corps area, doing my Marine thing. I should have joined you in quiet peace but for some reason, call it fate, God’s will, whatever, you’re gone and I’m here alive. I often think about you. My mom sent me news clipping of your mother placing a rose at the Veteran’s Memorial. Your name’s on that memorial, and there’s also one in Washington with your name on it.
No one forgot you Rocky, and they never will. Life has been hard for your family. But you don’t want to hear about that. God blessed my family and I often wonder why its like that. I have tried to be faithful to the ideas we shared as kids. Since you have been gone, its like I could never be just another guy from Fort Collins, and for some reason my life has taken me all over this world.
I went back to Vietnam when my wounds healed up. I took care of some kids. Like you, I was a gook lover, as the tough guys called us. I ended up married to a Vietnamese lady, a wonderful person, adopted three kids and had one with Thu. Now they’re all grown up, wholesome American kids.
We lost that war Rocky, Can you believe that. I was back in Communist Vietnam a year and a half ago. My wife had an uncle who was a high ranking Viet Cong. And I met this old man and we hugged and kissed. I got drunk with a former V.C. commander that is a cousin of my wife and we drank and hugged and cried. I befriended a Russian engineer in the hotel and we toasted to friendship, to the future. But all that’s nothing, Rocky. Today there is no USSR, no Berlin Wall, and no Iron Curtain and somehow we won the big one. Do you remember when we were kids how we were going to run away and go dig tunnels under the Berlin Wall. Now there’s a movement for democracy sweeping across the world and everything’ changed. Everything but people.
I forgot to tell you I was in Vietnam when the end came, I had to run. Then later I was in Iran when it went Islamic fundamentalist, and I had to run. Rode a drilling rig up the mine-infested waters of the Gulf during the Iran-Iraq War. Sat in the sands of Saudi Arabia as missiles came in and were shot down by an anti-missile system called the Patriot. Rocky, there are names, movements, place we never talked about. Weapons you can’t believe and instant TV coverage of everything in the world live in our homes. They say we kicked butt in the Gulf last year. After so many wars they all look the same to me. But people change slower than technology, movements take time. There are many wars going on. Maybe you would be disappointed in me, I don’t even own a gun, never have since Vietnam.
Time goes on and the world and our lives change and there are wonderful new things that make life so easy. The world’s so small, it’s the information age. The micro revolution. I’ve worked and traveled the world and found all people have some basic aspirations and aspects to life that are common everywhere. Remember when we used to know we were so right and some other things were so wrong. I call it the black and white attitude. But my old friend, I’ve found so much grey in this world, in this life. I never lost my direction or understanding of who I am, but I also never declare myself as having the only correct way, there is just too mush to learn. Today we as a people are starting to understand that all our greed and wealth is destroying event our planet, our environment. We couldn't begin to see that as kids but the warning signs have been showing themselves for years now.
In some ways life’s is not all so simple anymore. It’s still beautiful and challenging but as always people have to stand for something; the thing is, the enemy isn’t just the Commies, often it’s us. I am glad I was your best friend for those few short years. It gives me extra drive to live and to do not only what I want to do, but to try to accomplish something, or at least to try to leave this world a better place. You left this world fighting for what you believed in. Your spirit of courage is for me a comfort and a call to push on for the good fight though the battle is all different now. I am sorry I could not be of much comfort to your family. It was all so overwhelming. Only today, do I have the courage to write a letter to you. They say as Vietnam Vets we’ve got all kinds of psychological problems with funny-sounding names. I sometimes laugh about that. I do know that people that felt the heat, smelled the smoke, saw the pain of battle, those people are a little different.
As in everything else there are some phonies, but that’s to be expected. We’ve had our share of phony politicians and preachers. Maybe the simple point is that we learned a little earlier than most what was important in life. Well, old friend, if you somehow get this letter, then you will know you not only did not die in vain, you have never been forgotten. If I ever do accomplish anything grand in this world, believe me, your spirit will deserve much of the credit—though I mostly do my thing in little ways with little people all over this world.
One last thing, Rocky, don’t get the wrong idea—I understand the price you paid with your life and all I can do is love life with all my strength. Appreciate all the things you never got to have. I’ll feel truly and deeply all the joys and sorrows, I’ll sing life’s songs extra loud for you, cry the extra tear over the sadness and go the extra mile to be true to the ideas we shared, and most of all, my friend, I’ll always remember you. Your old friend !
Corporal Richard L Iverson
USMC Retired Copy written 2010
*******************************************************************
From a Vietnam veteran, dedicated to the 25000 plus men and women wounded in action. Only they will understand it, if not today later.
LIFE THEY SAY WE JUST HAVE ONE
Life they say we just have one, but I was given two. Oh how long I didn’t understand, the forces with-in. They pulled me and drove me, blessed me and burden me
Life they say we just have one, but I was given two. Cheated death in the jungles of Vietnam, most the rest with me paid there all. Spared against all odds, bleeding and helpless, sang a song of good-by to one stronger then me. But they all died, a monument we built, I have to live, my life the truth to bear.
Thankful tho I am, the burdens so heavy. Help and give, love and care, have courage and never despair. But the battle is so different, explain to whom, understand they can’t. You win you lose, but can’t ever stop, dream and work, hope and struggle, happy and sad, I know them all.
Sometimes you forget, sometimes you remember, but go away it never. You cheated death, why are you here, why oh why is life not perfect. It’s not for me, this life I live, but for them, the life they had not. You must win, go on, accomplish and live.
Life they say we just have one, but it’s not just the guys, there dead and gone. You must be strong, win over wrong, knowledge I’ve gained, so much I’ve experienced, war is over but my battle goes on.
It’s so personal, this fight I live, for others the command I was given. Our world is so different, so much is wrong. With your life you make your stand, faith and hope I have, never give up. So by faith I live and someday will die. Life they say we just have one, but I was given two.
Cpl. Richard L Iverson USMC Ret. 1990 – Saudi Arabia Copy written 201
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