THE PEOPLE RESPOND TO “A FEW QUESTIONS FOR THE PRESIDENT”

President Bush now denies that "Stay the Course" was his strategy for Iraq- as election disaster looms, could the Republicans now be the champions of "Cut and Run?"


On Tuesday, October 24, 2006, the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper ran a short version of the column that appeared in this paper on October 13, 2006 titled “A FEW QUESTIONS FOR THE PRESIDENT. You can find the article at:


http://
www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061024/OPINION05
/610240301/1006/OPINION&GID=UA83GFCLn7StOsFLZjcAFwg0woghgdNR2UyKfy+kjP0%3D

The Tallahassee Democrat editor put my e-mail address at the bottom of the article. I wasn’t remotely prepared for the e-mails that started arriving the day the editorial appeared, the earliest of which was sent just after 3:00 A.M. (presumably by an insomniac reader of the on-line edition). Amazingly, not a negative response among them. Here’s the article, followed by a sample of the responses (I omitted names and substituted initials:

SOME QUESTIONS FOR THE PRESIDENT

Recently, President George Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld have given speeches about how important it is to stay the course in Iraq, telling Americans that the battle being fought for control of the streets of Baghdad is the central front on the war against terror.

They have compared the struggle against an amorphous enemy that they have labeled “Islamo Fascism” to the World War II battles against the Nazis.

They have labeled opponents of the war as “cut-and-run defeatists” and “appeasers.”

Unfortunately for America, no one from the audience or the press asked any of them some obvious questions. In case a member of the press ever develops a backbone, here are some questions he or she might want to ask at the next presidential press conference:

MR. PRESIDENT: You’ve said that the options in Iraq are either cut and run or stay the course. My question is: Why haven’t you considered a third option: phasing in troops from Jordan and Egypt as peacekeepers – troops who are Arabic- speaking Muslims, troops who won’t provoke Islamic jihadists or help fuel the insurgency, as our intelligence agencies report that American troops have done after our invasion and occupation of Iraq?

If it is so important to have troops there to keep the peace and fight the insurgency, why haven’t you asked King Abdullah II of Jordan and President Mubarak of Egypt to contribute peacekeeping forces? Why not gradually replace Americans with Arabic-speaking Muslim peacekeepers? Why not take away the single greatest provocation that allows radical Muslims to portray this as a holy war, of Christians against Muslims? Of outsiders against Arabs? Why allow the presence of Western, mostly Christian occupiers to inspire the insurgency and provide a fertile breeding ground for Islamic terrorists?

MR. PRESIDENT: Since you’ve admitted that there is no connection between the 9/11 attacks and Iraq, and since we’ve found no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, you have said that American troops are there to bring democracy to the Iraqi people. Democracy means the opportunity to vote on one’s future. Will you agree to allow the Iraqi people to go to the polls and vote whether they want American troops to stay or leave by a specific date? Why not put our actions where our rhetoric is – our money where our mouths are – and trust the Iraqi people to vote? If they vote for us to leave, then they can fight for their own freedom the same way we did in 1776. And they will value it more if it is their own blood, sweat and tears that wins their freedom, rather than having it handed to them by American troops whose invasion and occupation has directly or indirectly caused the deaths of tens of thousands of their countrymen.

MR. PRESIDENT: You, Vice President Cheney, and Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld have recently compared the occupation of Iraq to the moral equivalent of the World War II fight against the Nazis. If this truly is the equivalent of World War II, if America’s safety and future are really being determined by the outcome of the battle for the streets of Baghdad, then when can we expect your daughters, Jenna and Barbara, now 24, to sign up and fight the way Franklin D. Roosevelt’s four sons – James, Elliot, John and FDR Jr. – did during World War II?

James Roosevelt was second-in-command of the 2nd Raider Battalion of the Marine Raiders and won the Navy Cross and Silver Star in combat. Elliott Roosevelt was a pilot in the United States Army Air Forces, flew a P-38 Lightning in the North African campaign in 1942, and was an Army photo reconnaissance pilot flying over France prior to the D-Day landings. John Roosevelt served with a carrier task group in the Pacific and received the Bronze Star. Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr. was a Naval officer decorated for bravery in the battle of Casablanca.

And when can we expect the children of the vice president, of the members of your Cabinet, and of the Republicans in Congress- who are calling Democrats “cut and run defeatists” and “Defeatocrats”- to sign up and fight?

If you can’t persuade your own flesh and blood, those who share your genes and your heritage, whose values you have shaped, to risk themselves by enlisting or even to sign up as civilian truck drivers in Iraq, then how can you tell the American people that this is the equivalent of World War II, a time when virtually every able-bodied American, including your own father, served in the war effort?


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I read your article today and it was most thought provoking. I was especially impressed, as a father of two, that you have the moral authority to speak as your son has been and is in Iraq. Keep up the good work and if you are in Tallahassee give me a call for lunch; I will pick up the check.

Sincerely, Judge EB


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Dear Mr. Finkelstein-

I imagine that by now you have received comments regarding your
editorial.

Put me in the column as a supporter. You have managed to put into
written words what I have been saying for some time.

Well done!

WJS
lst LT, USMC Retired

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your article was right on target but I suispect you already know the answers to your questions.... and the answer for me lies in your last question. our presidents vietnam service record speaks for itself. and I'm not a georgian but the things republicans implied about poor ol' max cleland says more about the character of these people than anything I know. despicable... our country is being led by the worst president in my lifetime.
I offer my prayers for your sons safe return.

an ol' navy veteran whose son also served.
MC

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Bravo, Mr. Finkelstein!

Respectfully,
KW, USN
Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa
Camp Lemonier, Djibouti

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit." - Aristotle

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Your three questions (as published in the Tallahassee Democrat) were excellent. Unfortunately, Mr. President will not answer them, nor will Cheney or Rumsfeld. They can’t, because their positions are fraudulent. I hope that your piece will be picked up by the newswires.

Very well done, Sir.

RP, CLI
Chief Investigator
Fonvielle Lewis Foote & Messer
Tallahassee, FL

*****

Bravo. Great questions. May God bring your son home safely.

Sincerely, JL
(USN 1958-61)

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Jim,

Great piece about Bush and the rotten things he's done to our country.
Sincerely,

BL

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THIS IS BY FAR THE BEST EDITORIAL I HAVE READ ABOUT THE WAR IN IRAQ.
YOU HAVE HIT ON THE REAL TRUTH THAT THE CHICKENHAWKS IN WASHINGTON AVOID. MY SOLUTION IS TO REINSTATE THE DRAFT WITH ABSOLUTELY NO EXCEPTIONS... THERE WILL BE EXCUSES BUT ONLY EXTREMELY VALID ONES WOULD BE APPROVED. SUCHA AS EXTREME DISAB ILITY ...BUT OTHER WISE ALL WILL GO JUST LIKE IN WWII
THIS WOULD END THE WAR IMMEDIATELY...ESP IF THE BUSH TWINS WERE DRAFTED. SEND THEM TO IRAQ.
I UNDERSTAND THAT THERE IS ONLY ONE CONGRESSMAN WHO HAS A KID IN IRAQ. I SERVED IN THE USAF FOR 22 YEARS..TWO ASSIGNMENTS TO VIETNAM.. IN 1965 AND AGAIN IN 1971. I RECEIVED THE BRONZE STAR AND PROUD TO BE A VET.
WAR IS HELL ... TRUST ME.

CM
LT COLONEL USAF RETIRED.
CALVARY , GEORGIA

P.S. SEND THIS EDITORIAL TO EVERYONE YOU CAN.

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Mr. Finkelstein, I very much appreciated your article and questions that I read in the Tallahassee Democrat Tuesday! Thank you for asking some hard questions that maybe the press is too afraid of repercussions to ask the President. I, too, sent a son to Baghdad (in the 3rd ID at the beginning). There is credibility in you doing the asking because you are a father whose son is
there and you are from the South, which is sometimes a region taken for granted by the President. It is easy to be passionate and not constantly examine your assumptions, motives and policies if you have not a personal stake (a child's life)involved.

Thanks,
BB

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Dear Mr. Finkelstein:

Your story appeared today in the Tallahassee Democrat. My hope is that you circulated it to other newspapers too. It was, in a word, terrific.

Sincerely,
JB
Professor, FSU

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Dear Mr..Finkelstein:

I read your op ed piece in today's Tallahassee Democrat and wanted to thank you for taking a courageous and perhaps unpopular stand on the ever growing morass our government has created in Iraq. More people with your unique credibility need to step up and voice their concern and criticism. No one would dare to question your thoughtfulness or your patriotism as they so easily do with other critics of this war. Thank you again and please pass along to your son my gratitude and for his courageous service to our country.in this unnecessary war. I will certainly keep him and all his fellow Soldiers and Marines in my thoughts and prayers

Thank you again,
CS
Tallahassee Florida

Jim: Thanks so much for the note, I certainly did not expect a response..I will be forwarding your op ed piece to everyone in my add.,book Republicans (I know only a very few these days) and Democrats as well as Independents. I can only hope that the voters are going to send a resounding message to the President and his cronies on election day. Perhaps then we might start to thoughtfully approach how we can best get out of Iraq. Please send your son my very best wishes...and again thanks for your honesty and courage in writing the op ed piece ...I am sure your son is as proud of you as you are of him.

CS

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meemee4256 wrote:

Mr. Finkelstein,

Your article was very interesting. I agree with you on these questions. Unfortunately , the answers may never be printed. I pray your son and the other service men and women will be coming home again soon .

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CONTINUE TO GIVE THEM HELL, HOPEFULLY SOMEONE WILL WAKE UP AND TAKE NOTICE. JUST A SIDE NOTE OR SON IS NOW SAFELY BACK HOME IN THE
U. S. AFTER EIGHT MONTHS IN IRAQ AND WE ARE GRATEFUL FOR YOUR PRAYERS AND I PRAY GOD CONTINUE TO BLESS YOUR SON AND HIS ENTIRE FAMILY AS HE FACES THE MANY CHALLENGES THAT LAY AHEAD

SINCERELY,
CM

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I read your letter and applaud you. ... . Of as much interest to me is how much stock Haliburton insiders have sold since Bush became President. At least one, David J. Lesser has cashed out over $50 million in the last year.

Prayers for your son,
JM

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BRAVO! I've been saying it for 3+ years now: "I'll support the war when
the Bush-ettes are on the front lines!" And I'm sending your column to my
brother, The Republican. Why can't people SEE when even Shrub says he was
wrong?

KC
Monticello, FL

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Dear Mr. Finkelstein:
Thank you for articulating what so many of us feel. Your op-ed piece was reasoned and exactly what I would ask if I had the opportunity. I wish your son well and hope you are reunited safely and soon.

JG

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Good afternoon Mr. Finkelstein:

I just read one of the best articles in the Tallahassee Democrat that I have
read to date, "Questions For The President".

You have said what so many of us want to say and I truly hope that President
Bush sees the article.

Thank you again for an outstanding piece.

PL
Games Administration Analyst I