By Greg Nees
President
George W. Bush
The White
House
Washington, DC
September 13, 2001
Dear Mr.
President,
I am a former Marine Corps sergeant who served his
country well and was honorably discharged in 1970. I have never written such a
letter before and I pray that it will somehow get through the bureaucratic
filters to reach you. Like so many Americans, I was appalled and shocked by the
death and destruction we witnessed two days ago. I am now coming out of my
shock and am very concerned about the grievous state in which our country and
the world find themselves. We have suffered a horrible attack and far too many
of us have suffered and died. I am greatly saddened and sickened by the carnage
and suffering of the victims and their families. I know you too are suffering
and I can feel your anger and frustration as well as your desire for active
retaliation and I understand it well. It is a natural and justifiable reaction
to such a heinous criminal act.
And yet I would counsel
you to proceed carefully. I fear we are in a perilous situation and a mistake
on our part could easily widen the already huge spiral of violence in which the
world finds itself. Mr. President, you now have the great opportunity to prove
to the world that the United States is more than just a great economic and
military power to be feared. It is up to you to show all of the world that the
United States is also a law abiding and civilized country which can be trusted
to follow the laws of the world as well as let itself be guided by the wisdom
of human understanding and compassion.
I urge you to use all
legal means at your disposal to determine who perpetrated this horrible crime
and to bring them to trial before the appropriate court. Let them indeed find
the justice the world awaits and needs. But I beg you, let not one more
innocent life -be it American, Israeli, Palestinian or any other - be lost
because of this horrible crime. Too often our bombs and weapons have taken the
lives of innocent victims. I believe the military euphemism is "collateral
damage" but in reality it is manslaughter if not outright murder. What
right can we claim that allows us to take more innocent lives? Is that not also
a form of terrorism? Should we lower ourselves to the level of those who
attacked the World Trade Center or should we stand tall and take the legal and
moral high ground?
You have chosen to
describe this as an act of evil. I fear using such inflammatory language will
only worsen the situation. Such language will all too easily incite a lynch mob
mentality, when what we need is the compassion which Jesus taught as well as
the cool reason which will help us reach our true goals of global peace,
prosperity and democracy for all people of the world. Lead us, Mr. President,
with dignity and wisdom and do not pander to the primitive parts of our beings
that are all too powerfully calling out at this moment. Show the world that you
too are a leader with the greatness, strength and courage to seek true understanding
and restorative justice, just as Nelson Mandela did in South Africa.
Rather than
characterizing the attack as an act of evil, I see it as a terrible last act of
desperation by people who believed they had no other way to make themselves
heard than to resort to violence and mayhem. It is absolutely critical that we
see not only their willingness to use horrible, illegal means, but that we also
hear their desperation which makes them view such means as the highest form of heroism
including the sacrifice of their very lives. As a former Marine, I know what it
means to be willing to sacrifice one's life for a cause one truly believes in.
While I see these people as horribly misguided, hate-filled and desperate, I do
not believe they are cowardly or evil.
If we are to
truly resolve the hatred and violence, we need to understand that in their
eyes, they see themselves as a tiny, heroic David fighting against a huge,
monstrous Goliath who seeks to kill them and their way of life. We certainly
need not agree with their views, but we must understand them if we ever hope to
achieve a lasting peace and not a world that is locked down and bereft of all the
civil rights and freedoms we cherish so highly.
Months ago we
saw magazine pictures of a young Palestinian child being cradled for hours in
the arms of his father. Innocently caught in a gun battle the child died from
bullet wounds and the father could not move to save him. Can you begin to
imagine the anguish, pain and sense of injustice this father must have felt? As a father yourself, how would you have
felt in such a situation as the life oozed out of your child and you were
pinned down and absolutely helpless? It is such intensely unbearable images and
feelings that drive people to such desperate measures as we witnessed on
Wednesday in New York and Washington.
In this moment
of deep crisis, is also a moment of immense opportunity. I urge you to take
this opportunity to move our world away from violence and suffering and towards
peace, freedom and abundance for all. Let these voices of desperation be heard and
let the perpetrators have their day in court. Show them that we truly do
believe in law and justice for all. Let us not make the mistake we did recently
at Durban, but rather let us bring all voices to the table, even if they are
screaming and telling the stories we would like not to hear. We are truly a
superpower and we are too used to talking and expecting others to listen. Show
the world that we are also strong enough to learn to listen. I know you are a
Christian and I pray that you will indeed do what Jesus Christ counseled and
not rashly lash out in violence. May God give you the wisdom to find the great
opportunity for peace that lies in this horrible tragedy. I hope that later in
this century historians will look back and applaud your greatness of spirit and
cool sense of reason that moved our globalizing world closer to justice and democracy
for all.
Respectfully,
Greg Nees