Against the War
by Gari-Sue Greene

March 8, 2003

Dear Mr. President:

My hopes are that someone reads this letter before March 17th. I have a son on the USS Constellation, America's Flagship, who has been on cruise for 4 months under terrible conditions. I don't want him to go to war. I want him home safely, like you would want if your daughters were in the Navy aboard a carrier.

This is not about freedom, it's about OIL. I recently met a woman from Switzerland who tells me that she is paying more than $2.00 a liter, which means $8.00 a gallon or more. We have the technology to create cleaner engines running on alternative fuels and making smaller cars, instead of these mini-vans and vans that guzzle our gas.

Our country is so far in debt, I can't imagine anyone trying to balance the budget. I don't want to pay for this war. I would rather my taxes go towards medical care for EVERYONE, to feed millions of kids who go to bed without food, for the elderly who can't afford cooling and heating, to those with terrible toothaches who have no funds to see a dentist. And the list grows.

You need to realize that the popular vote does not want a war. War gets us nowhere, just kills the 'bad guys' as well as countless others. You don't have to be a tough guy here. Sadaam is not our enemy. He is a mentally ill egomaniac who needs be removed, but not by war. Our covert forces should be able to track him down and infiltrate his 'group'. Why punish the people who want to get rid of him as much as we do?

What if the tables were turned. What if China, Russia, Korea and France said, "We don't like Bush's policy, let's take him out. You know they could, which would be terrible, but the fact is, they could get to you and make our citizens feel even more unsafe.

War is not the answer. We can't fight this man alone without jeopardizing our security. Unemployed people are losing the ability to buy food, they'll lose their homes at a cost to millions to taxpayers. Why? Because the US is in a state of panic and everyone is afraid to spend their money. We are cutting necessary programs so that we can finance this war. Where does the money come from? Do we write bad checks?

Please rethink your policy. It won't make you look bad if you decide to give Iraq more time. In fact, I think it would raise public opinion and you would get more positive feedback.

Someone has to listen to the American people and they are telling you, NO WAR! Please listen to us.

Gari-Sue Greene