President Bush - How Can I Dissent?

Dear President Bush,

In your recent Veteran's Day speech you say something almost off-hand during your appeal not to "rewrite history" on the possibility of intelligence manipulations. You said:

"While it's perfectly legitimate to criticize my decision or the conduct of the war, it is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how that war began."

While I respectfully disagree that the Democrats are trying to rewrite history, I'd like to focus on the first half of the sentence. I'd hope that all Americans can agree that it is legitimate to criticize the conduct of the war: the freedom to express one's opinion is a lynchpin in the democratic society we're fighting to protect!

So my question, Mr. President, is how can I dissent? I spent 2 hours last night listening to members of your party telling me how irresponsible the Democrats are for calling the conduct of the war into question. Any criticism of the conduct or reasoning for going to war is portrayed as:

• encouragement to our enemy
  
• discouragement to our troops

Is it fair to use these two criticism criticisms to quell dissent? What kind of dissenting voice is allowed?

Encouraging the Enemy

I do not think it is possible to publicly criticize your decision to go to war or your conduct of the war without encouraging the enemy to some degree. So we have a choice to make: temporarily encourage the enemy or undermine our democratic ideals. Given that choice, I certainly prefer that we permit Americans to speak their minds without fear of being labeled treasonous.

I used the phrase "temporarily encourage" deliberately in the previous paragraph. I believe that the only way we can succeed in Iraq is to do so unified as a country, and the only way to unify is to allow dissenting voices to be heard so that we can move forward together toward our goals. A divided America cannot unite Iraq!

While criticizing an "inability to dissent" in this letter, you may be surprised to hear that I sincerely hope that we keep to our goal and succeed in establishing an Islamic Alternative to extremism in Iraq. It is my personal belief that a stable and democratic Iraq is the best way to fight terrorism at its source. But we will fail unless America is united in our aim and is willing to make the significant sacrifices needed to succeed.

Discouraging Our Troops

On this point I truly believe that we can publicly dissent and still support the brave men and women in uniform that sacrifice so much for us. In fact, as Representative Murtha has pointed out: the best way we can encourage our troops is to make sure they know we're trying to unite as a country around a plan that will succeed.

Never having been in the military I cannot be certain how I would react if I were stationed in Iraq and heard my Congress calling my mission into question. Therefore, I recognize that my opinion here is speculation. However, if:

• the criticisms were leveled at the plan and the strategy,
  
• with the goal to make sure that my sacrifice would either be successful (or if success is not possible, shortened)...
  

...then I don't believe I'd be upset. And, if I was myself questioning the progress of the war I'd be downright grateful. I hope that you will ask active military personnel and their families for their reactions. Based on Representative Murtha's reading of letters from military families on the Floor last night, it sounds as though many in the military are pleased that someone is speaking up with another view.

What is the Answer?

Can you provide a process that allows for reasonable men and women to discuss, criticize and make their voices heard? If so, please help create that process. The resolution of that public debate is absolutely necessary in order to bring this country together so that we can complete the important work that we've begun in Iraq.

Sincerely,

A Reasonable American