Stop the war lobbying effort

As part of a nationwide lobbying effort aimed at convincing congressional representatives to do what it takes to end the war in Iraq, many of us in the Brazos Valley Texas area will today meet at noon at the College Station office of Congressman Chet Edwards (D-TX-17) for the purpose of presenting him with letters from his constituents in opposition to our country's war in Iraq. Following is my letter:

February 22, 2007

The Honorable Chet Edwards
111 University Drive East Suite 216
College Station TX 77840

Dear Representative Edwards:

Thirty-nine years ago, in a speech he gave at Kansas State University in March of 1968, Bobby Kennedy said the following about another proposed escalation of U.S. troops in Vietnam:

But isn't this exactly what we have always done in the past? If we examine the history of the conflict, we find the dismal story repeated time after time. Every time -- at every crisis -- we have denied that anything was wrong; sent more troops; and issued more confident communiques. Every time, we have been assured that this one last step would bring victory. And every time, the predictions and promises have failed and been forgotten, and the demand has been made again for just one more step up the ladder.

It is impossible when reading this passage, as well as his entire speech, to not be startled with its applicability to the quagmire we have created for ourselves and others in Iraq today.

As a direct result of a president and vice-president whose inclinations are to shoot first and think and ask questions later—if those two prerequisites are considered at all—we have created a horrific mess in Iraq for ourselves, for the Iraqi people and for other countries in that region. As a direct result of President Bush's refusal to let inspections, diplomacy, negotiations, politics and other non-violent means continue their mission in Iraq, tens of thousands of our family members, neighbors and fellow citizens have been killed or maimed, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi men, women and children have been killed or maimed, too. We have given away, mismanaged, lost and had stolen billions and billions of American's tax dollars in Iraq. Our military presence in Iraq has created more terrorists, civil war and instability in the middle east, and we have squandered our good will in the international community. The damage we have caused to the Iraqi society is immense and most of it irreparable. And the awful terrible tragedy of it is, all that harm and suffering was done unjustly and needlessly. Invading Iraq is our country's worse ever folly and I am writing to urge you to please do everything that you can to not allow this madness to continue.

I am asking you to please oppose the president's plan to escalate the war in Iraq and to also push for the immediate commencement of a phased withdrawal of all U.S. troops from that country. As you read this, Britain and other military forces are withdrawing from Iraq and we now need to do exactly the same with our country’s forces.

Bobby Kennedy also said in his Kansas State University speech:

[T]his is a year of choice -- a year when we choose not simply who will lead us, but where we wish to be led; the country we want for ourselves -- and the kind we want for our children. If in this year of choice we fashion new politics out of old illusions, we insure for ourselves nothing but crisis for the future -- and we bequeath to our children the bitter harvest of those crises.

That passage, too, is as applicable today as it was nearly four decades ago. You are in a position, Congressman Edwards, to help our country make a different choice, to not “bequeath to our children the bitter harvest” of unwise choices by President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

Thank you for taking the time to consider my views and I would welcome your response.

Sincerely,


Walter S Szymanski Jr

Edwards voted in favor of the nonbinding congressional resolution that disapproved of the president’s plan to send more combat troops to Iraq, saying it was the "appropriate and right thing to do," but I don't believe he will do more than that at this time to either stop the escalation or to call for the withdrawal of our troops from Iraq. Hopefully, our letters and meeting with him today (if we're able to do so) will help him to take that next step.