Open Letter to President Bush on Iraq

Mr. President,

Out here in the Red Zone, we support your policies, but we are getting worried about the war in Iraq.

We need reassurance.

We need communication.

We totally support our troops and admire them for their willingness to fight a nasty murky war.

We had rather battle the terrorists over there than over here.

We are not concerned that no Weapons of Mass Destruction were found because we know that Saddam Hussein led a rogue nation which made a constant mockery of international law.

We don't believe you deliberately misled us about these weapons because logic and world intelligence agencies throughout the world said they were there.

Saddam had used them before and continually defied international inspections attempting to insure that he would not use them again.

Yes, it would be great if Iraq actually formed a western style democracy.

Although not many of us actually believe exactly that is likely to happen.

We would settle for a stable elected government of some kind, even if it had an Islamic tinge, as long as it was not a fanatical Iranian theocracy.

This would greatly benefit America in our War against Terror and save many American lives in the long run.

It is a result worth fighting for.

However, when day after day we hear of three, four, five casualties from mysterious car bombs and homicide bombers.

When day after day we hear Democratic charges that we need more troops or that Cheney lied and falsified evidence to force us into war or that our troops don't have enough armor.

When day after day all we see on TV are carnage and people running for cover or running with blood.

When all we hear is that we are making no progress training Iraqi troops.

Then we begin to doubt and your poll numbers drop.

Please communicate with us. It is obvious that you do have a plan.

Train Iraqis to take over a free Iraq.

Give them one more year at the most. By then we should see significant and visible progress in Iraqis running their own democratic country.

If they do not have the will to fight, if they are not as strong as Islamic fanatics, then we can stay there ten years and things will only get worse.

We hear nothing good about how things are going in Iraq.

You need to go on a Good Offensive.

Hammer home over and over that free elections have been held and a constitution has been formed. This is a remarkable accomplishment.

You need to tell us day after day what we are achieving. Let us know the positive things our troops are doing.

Are they building schools, ensuring the flow of oil, enabling businesses to open, wiping out terrorist cells?

Let us hear the voices of Iraqis who appreciate our being there.

Let us hear from Iraqis who will fight for their freedom because if they won’t, we need to get out now.

The main stream press will not carry this, but you can give speeches to get the message out and Fox News will give you a fair and balanced hearing.

Put the information out there. Energize your base or your Republican Congress will panic, split and run for cover.

Please Mr. President communicate with us and preserve what you have accomplished before the tide turns.

Defend Yourself, Mr. President

We in the heartland, if not yet doubting, are becoming, pessimistic, even depressed.

You sit in seeming isolation. We are subjected to the relentless assault of 24 hour news.

Times have changed. In the past it may have been possible to govern and let the results speak for themselves.

But today, results are what we hear in the latest news cycle and you have left that to the Democrats.

You have one television news outlet that is sympathetic to you and that is Fox News. The rest are actively hostile.

But even Fox News is news hungry. When a station broadcasts 24 hours a day, it gets information where it can.

The Democrats are providing a drumbeat of coordinated criticism of your policies.

Take the economy, for example. It is humming along at an incredible pace, spurred by your tax cuts.

Yet, polls give you no credit. One even gets the impression that tax cuts are evil.

Somehow they cause poverty.

All we hear about is that spending by the government is out of control.

Suggestion: Veto some of the more outrageous spending bills. Hurt the feelings of your Democratic “partners” or your Republican “friends.”

Then tell us about it. Shout it to the rooftops.

The world of news has changed. Internet blogs spew out information and disinformation.

You have to be aggressive. Control the news cycle. Even the elite media will carry your arguments if you will make them.

And your friends will certainly broadcast them.

Force them to respond to you.

Exert leadership.

And don’t just do it in front of the military.

Go out into the red part of the country and make your case.

You did it during your campaign and did it well.

Unfortunately, you must campaign all year round or we will only hear of your mistakes or the view point of your opponents.

Clean house if you have to. Reenergize your administration and your supporters.

Do it soon.