An Open Letter to the Republican Governors

    Date: March, 2004

    Dear Republican Governors:

    On February 23, 2004, President Bush lied to you.

    In his speech, he said:

  • This November's election is between "moving the economy forward, or putting the burden of higher taxes back on the American people."
     In reality, Bush's tax cuts overwhelmingly favor 1% of the American population: those who are already millionaires. The vast majority of American taxpayers will never see a cent of Bush's tax cuts. Lowering taxes is a great idea, but it must benefit everyone, not those who need them least.

  • "We confronted... the spread of weapons of mass destruction."
     Actually, despite his history, Saddam Hussein's weapons programs were decimated by 12 years of sanctions and air strikes. He was in no position to threaten the United States or any neighbor.

  • "We... created the Department of Homeland Security."
     True, but it only has a fraction of the funds it needs to do its job. They requested $400 million to inspect shipments coming into American ports, and received $20 million. Bush signed the Homeland Security Department into existence, but won't pay for it.

  • "It's the President's job to confront problems, not pass them on to future generations."
    Bush inherited a balanced budget four years ago, and now we have the largest deficits in history. Later in the speech, he said, "We will have fiscal discipline in Washington, D.C." I shudder to imagine what he would term "fiscal recklessness."

  • "Every promise [made by other presidential candidates] will increase the power of politicians and bureaucrats over your life."
    In reality, the so-called PATRIOT Act, championed by the Bush Administration, is the gravest assault on freedom in a generation. Although one section rightly requires the FBI and CIA to share information about terrorists, it also presumes to override the 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 6th amendments. America deserves a realistic anti-terror law that isn't so easy to abuse.

  • Saddam "cultivated ties to terrorists."
    This isn't true, at least not in the way Bush implies. Al-Qaeda was Saddam's enemy as much as they are ours. They wished to overthrow him and replace him with a Taliban-style government, and in order to effect that, they sold weapons to Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq. The infamous Al-Qaeda camp in northern Iraq was in an area outside Saddam's control. As evil as Saddam was, he had nothing to do with September 11th - no matter how many times Bush lumps them together in the same sentence.

  • "We had a choice to make: Either take the word of a madman, or take action to defend America and the world. Faced with that choice, I will defend America every time."
    There is no question that Saddam was a tyrant who butchered thousands. But the simple reality is that he was too far away to threaten the United States, and that he had no WMD with which to attack his neighbors.

    Bush and his administration repeatedly exaggerated the threat from Saddam, from:

  • Condoleeza Rice's comment about the first warning of an attack from Saddam being a "mushroom cloud," when his nuclear program had been destroyed;
  • The President's remarks about Saddam's attempt to buy uranium from Africa, even though the CIA warned him repeatedly that it never happened;
  • The Vice President's office pressuring the CIA to tell the President what he wanted to hear and ignore all other intelligence.

  • "Because we acted, America is more secure."
    The rest of the world rushed to help America after September 11th. Two years and one war later, we have become the most unpopular and hated nation in the world. The more people who die in American-occupied Iraq, the more moderate Muslims will come to agree with Al-Qaeda's propaganda calling America evil. Bush's foreign policy has driven away allies, hardened our enemies, and killed hundreds of American soldiers and thousands of Iraqis. This is what Bush calls "more secure."

  • "They know that a free Iraq would be a major defeat in the cause of terror."
    Okay, Saddam had no ties to Al-Qaeda, all right? The invasion of Iraq had nothing to do with the war against terrorists. Repeating lies doesn't make them true.

    Actually, the United States has tried to prevent direct elections in Iraq, because every indication is that the victors would be Iranian-style Shiite puritans.

  • "We're aggressively striking the terrorists in Iraq, defeating them there so we do not have to face them in our own country... we'll win this important victory in the war on terror."
    Actually, none of the September 11th hijackers were Iraqi. (15 of the 19 were from our ally, Saudi Arabia.) Now that we have overthrown Saddam, Iraq is in shambles - an ideal recruiting ground for Al-Qaeda.

  • "I'm all for united action, and so are the 34 coalition partners we have in Iraq right now."
    Actually, soldiers of 3 nations invaded Iraq to overthrow Saddam: the United States, Great Britain, and Australia. The other 32 are governments (like those of Spain and Poland) who verbally supported George W. Bush's war in Iraq against the wishes of their populations. A few of those sent peacekeeping troops after Saddam fell; many are too poor to actually contribute any aid.

  • "We stand for the fair treatment of faith-based groups, so they can receive federal support for their works of compassion and healing. We will not stand for government discrimination against people of faith."
    The Bill of Rights, Article 1: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion."

    Our freedom of religion depends on its freedom from government interference. At some point the government will have to choose some faith-based charities over others - thus choosing which churches to support and which not to. Not only is government funding of faith-based charities illegal, it will create discrimination, not prevent it.

    Our Father which art in heaven, lead us not into Iraq, and deliver us from Dubya.

  • "We're changing the culture of America from one that said 'if you've got a problem, blame someone else.'"
    This is from the President who had been twice warned by the CIA not to include the forged "Saddam bought uranium from Africa" documents in his speeches calling for war against Saddam Hussein, then did it anyway. He first blamed CIA director George Tenet, then NSA officer Steven Hadley, then finally took responsibility for his mistake two months later. Bush himself embodies the "culture" he claims to oppose.

  • Bush invoked the tragedy of September 11th five times. He dishonors the memory of the thousands of innocents killed that day by exploiting the event for his re-election campaign.

    I was raised a Republican and voted for John McCain in 2000. I thought the GOP stood for small government, environmental protection, and personal freedom. Instead, the Bush Administration, supported by the Republican Congress that balanced the budget under President Clinton, has run up the highest deficits in history in just three years. Does the party now stand for the destruction of the environment and the sacrifice of civil liberties? Does party loyalty mean looking the other way as the President defies the facts and leads the country into unnecessary wars?

    George W. Bush has betrayed Republican values and principles, and the party deserves new leadership. It's time to put aside politics as usual and take our country back.

    Yours sincerely,

    C. Colvin

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