"March 6th, 2003 Letter I Sent To A Bunch Of My Friends/Family"

Hi. I'm sending this letter to a number of friends and family members who I feel are very possibly supportive of President Bush's plan to wage war on Iraq and overthrow the regime of Saddam Hussein. I did watch President Bush's press conference on the subject this evening; I felt it was my duty. Nothing he said denied or even argued against one very obvious fact that I think is extremely important.

Such a war will be a case of our country starting a war and aggressively overthrowing the government of another country. We will start the war. We will clearly be the aggressors. While I was growing up it was part of what made me proud of my country that never would we do such a thing. War was always something that the bad guys started and we reluctantly got involved in as a matter of defense of ourselves or our close allies.

I'm fairly confident that none of the people I'll be sending this letter to would kill innocent people. All of you certainly have some level of religious beliefs and/or moral sense that clearly dictates that it would be wrong for you to kill innocent people. I am appealing to that belief and/or sense of morality in you to realize that supporting President Bush's war plans for Iraq means that when some (probably very high) number of innocent people are killed in Iraq, you will have gone against either your religion or your sense of morality because our armed forces will have done that killing in your name and with your approval.

Since I'm only sending this letter to people who will no doubt highly disagree with its premises, I further ask you to not hold our differences against me. I believe strongly in what I am saying, and I am only trying to get you to think about it.

There are many of your fellow citizens who have been out there protesting the coming war. Don't be fooled by the media footage that shows just the extreme characters at such rallies all painted up and looking like freaks. The peace marches are predominately made up of very normal people who simply believe that starting a war and killing innocent people is the wrong thing to do. I just can't imagine why you wouldn't be of the same mind.

I would be remiss to not mention the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Obviously this horrific event pulled off by 19 hijacker/fanatics with box-cutters has had much to do with people's willingness to support things done in the name of the "war on terror".

If one were completely devoid of any spiritual, religious, or moral beliefs to dissuade one from supporting our starting a war that will kill many innocent people, might it be possible to appeal to one's practical sense of wanting to feel safe? To do that I simply ask this question: Will overthrowing Saddam Hussein in Iraq increase or decrease the risk of terrorists attacking United States citizens either at home or abroad? I'm positive it will only further the "cause" of the terrorist recruiters and harden their resolve, thereby clearly increasing the likelihood of further terrorist attacks.

Again, I know I am sending this to the very people who are most likely to disagree with me, so please understand that I do it not to make anybody mad at me (after all, I'm already fairly open with my views and my beliefs here aren't going to surprise anybody). And I am not sending this to be "arguing" or "putting you down" for what may be your differing opinions. I am really sending it with my hopes and prayers that it might make you think, and possibly reconsider. I feel it is extremely important.


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