02-12-05 Letter to Congress

As the 2005 baseball and congressional season approach, the following is a list of points that I'll be sending to my congressmen, senators, and relief pitching staff. Feel free to plagiarize this letter if you like. Simply change the names at the top and bottom. If you don't know who your senators or congressmen are, try: here

The Honorable Gary Miller
United States House of Representatives
1037 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-054

Dear Gary,

As we enter this critical phase of the operation in Iraq and the war on terror, I ask that you please consider strongly the following points in your legislative representation.

1) No further defense supplemental appropriations should be authorized which are specifically or vaguely aimed at a sustained US presence in Iraq. Any monies appropriated to the Iraq cause should be directly aimed at a goal of US troop withdrawal. The best way to support the troops is to bring them home as soon as possible. The US military should be positively moving towards a goal of complete withdrawal at the earliest date, leaving no new US military bases behind. Any supplemental appropriations that do not meet this criteria should be rejected.

2) US contracts in Iraq an Afghanistan should meet the transparency of the Freedom of Information Act. There is no reason that any of the scope or dollar details of these contracts should be hidden from the public that pays for them.

3) Any rebuilding efforts in Iraq should be US supported, but always Iraqi-led. The Iraqi people are an intelligent and hard-working people who are fully capable rebuilding their own country in a manner that suits them best. Any monies from the rebuilding efforts which make their way into the profit columns of US contractors and companies have not helped the Iraqi reconstruction effort. Furthermore, a US company dominated rebuilding effort is widely criticized for its corrupt appearance to the observing world at large.

4) The future government of Iraq has been given a beginning. The efforts from this point on do not require unilateral US oversight. Any participation the US undertakes should be transparent to the world. We must remember that if Iraq is to have a legitimate democracy – a government of the Iraqis, for the Iraqis, and by the Iraqis – foreigners, by definition, don't get to vote or participate.

5) US agency reporting has concluded that the terror threat to our people has increased as a result of the regime changes in Iraq and Afghanistan. There is no reason to believe that further missions of regime change in other terrorist sponsoring nations will decrease the threat to our homeland. The war on terror needs a new direction, not an expansion of its current course into Iran or other countries.

6) Demanding an end to nuclear proliferation and weapons of mass destruction in the world while leading the world in producing these same weapons of mass destruction is hypocrisy. What nation that strives to protect itself would surrender its defense plans and leave itself open to an overwhelming world power? None, of course. If nuclear proliferation is to be halted, the US, not others, must take the lead in the road to peace. If chemical and biological weapons are to be stopped, we must open the door to cooperation with international inspection and enforcement, and lead the world to peace.

If you have any questions, or wish to discuss further, please feel free to contact me.

Travis R. English