- Memo: Gen. George Washington (Ret.) to President George
W. Bush, Jr.
- Date: Oct. 30, 2003
- Place: Mt. Vernon, VA
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- President Bush, you're losing it!
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- I didn't fight a guerrilla war for eight and one half
years against the British to see you put our Republic at risk with your
neocon-inspired Iraq War policies. The gallant Contintental Army, and our
militias, made huge sacrifices, (remember Valley Forge?), in order to gain
that magnificent victory, which, incidentally, Mr. President, was aided
by the "Old Europe," which Donald Rumsfeld recently disparaged.
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- Don't you ever forget, it was one of Bavaria's greatest
sons, the Baron Johann de Kalb, that died fighting by our side, at Camden,
South Carolina. And, it was France's aid-France's Navy and France's spirited
Army-that finally secured our national cause at Yorktown, VA. The sterling
contributions of Germany's Friedrich von Steuben; Poland's Casimir Pulaski;
Ireland's John Barry, ("Father of the American Navy"); and many
other sons, too, of "Old Europe," will forever live in my memory.
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- I'm going to be blunt Mr. President: Get out of Iraq,
now! Let the UN take over. Cut your losses, and more importantly, begin
to clean your political house of all the dead wood that has gotten you
into this horrific Iraqi mess.
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- Start with the odious Richard Perle! He was the main
instigator of the Iraq invasion. Delete his name from the Pentagon's Defense
Advisory Board. Then, chop away in the Defense Department: ax Rumsfeld
and Paul "Dr. Strangelove" Wolfowitz. Over at the Office of National
Security, show Condi Rice the door, along with that relic of the Contragate
era, Elliott Abrams. At State, say good-bye to Colin Powell. His flop,
in presenting the dubious case for a U.S.-led war against Iraq at the UN
on Feb. 5, 2003, was a gross international embarrassment.
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- The American people deserve to have a president who
will always put the national interest first. If you're honest with yourself,
(and I hope that you will be), there is no way to justify this Iraq madness
as being in "our" national interest. You have been conned by
slick operatives from "Big Oil," the "Military Industrial
Complex," and, particularly, by the "Israel First Brigade."
In the latter category, you will find, of course, Perle, and others of
that ilk: such as, Joe Lieberman, Tom Lantos, Mortimer B. Zuckerman, Tom
DeLay, Arlen "Magic Bullet" Specter and Charles Schumer.
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- As for your Vice President, Dick Cheney! Well, I'm sorry,
but you're stuck with him for the balance of your term. Suggestion: send
him over to the Senate to preside over its proceedings with a huge sign
wrapped around his neck, that reads: "Personal Property of Halliburton
and Enron!"
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- Mr. President, we're all human! I've made my shares
of mistakes, too. At the battles of Long Island and Brandywine, I allowed
the British General, William Howe, to outflank me. Fortunately, the Continental
Army's resilience permitted me to recover from those errors and to stay
in the field. In a miraculous kind of way, the Revolutionary War, even
before there was a national government, created a national consciousness.
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- National consciousness in my day was rooted in the people,
and in their hopes for peace. I saw clearly that dream in my brave comrades
in arms: Rhode Island's Nathanael Greene; Maryland's John Eager Howard;
Delaware's Robert Kirkwood; Massachusetts' Henry Knox; New Jersey's Daniel
Morgan; South Carolina's Andrew Pickens, Francis "The Swamp Fox"
Marion and Thomas Sumter; Virginia's "Light Horse Harry" Lee
and William Washington; New Hampshire's John Sullivan; and finally, Pennsylvania's
Anthony Wayne, James Potter and Frederick Antes.
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- In your time, the hopes for peace are reflected in those
protesting your Iraqi war policies. They are also beginning to show up
in the latest polls that reveal growing disenchantment with the Iraq quagmire.
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- As an aside, there is no way I would have ever been
seen shaking hands with British Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton, who regularly
showed no mercy to our troops. Yet, you are not only are seen shaking hands
with Israel's Ariel "Bloody" Sharon, you have even invited him
to the White House! Have you, too, forgotten what happened to the men of
the USS Liberty? Don't you know who sent Jonathan Pollard to steal our
military secrets? Doesn't the name, Rachel Corrie, mean anything to you?
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- Mr. President, I want you to read my 1796 "Farewell
Address." Now, I know that you don't like to read and that you also
have a serious problem listening to advice. Trust me! It's time, my dear
Sir, for you to "get over" all of that! For your country's sake,
read my words, carefully, especially my strong caution against any future
government forming any "passionate attachments," to ANY foreign
countries. NO EXCEPTIONS! NONE!
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- Finally, Mr. President, leave the peoples of the Middle
East to forge their own destinies. Bring our brave troops home from Iraq.
And, stop subsidizing the terror of the Sharon Gang, it will only continue
to make us more enemies in the Islamic World. If you persist, Mr. President,
in putting the Republic at risk with your reckless foreign entanglements,
you may forever forfeit the magnificent accomplishments of the patriots
of old.
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- © William Hughes 2003
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- William Hughes is the author of "Saying 'No' to
the War Party" (Iuniverse, Inc.), which is available online. He can
be reached at: liamhughes@mindspring.com.
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