Message to H.E. Dr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
President of the Islamic Republic of Iran
From the American People
Given the technical difficulty of convening a meeting of our entire population of three hundred million, and the fact that your letter was addressed to “Noble Americans,” among which I count myself, I trust that you will forgive my presumptuousness in providing a unilateral response to your recent communiqué. In truth, even were it feasible to convene a meeting of our entire population to formulate a unified response to your missive, such a response would be impossible due to the blessed diversity of opinion which we, as truly free citizens, embrace. Please rest assured, however, that there are many millions of Americans who share my views and would gladly affix their signatures to this letter were they given the opportunity.
You profess to share our commitment to freedom, human dignity and integrity, our devotion to the cause of freedom, justice and equity for all human beings. You would have us believe that your course is noble, your goals humane, your mission one of pristine glory for all of mankind. Sir, we know the truth.
Our Constitution grants us true freedom, freedom unequalled on this planet. We are free to speak our minds, publicly and without fear of retribution. We are free to worship as we please, or to refrain from worshipping at all. We have the right to select those who will represent us in our government, to criticize them when we feel it is warranted and to replace them if we feel they have failed. We are tolerant of diversity not because our government mandates our tolerance, but because we understand that diversity makes us stronger. We are fiercely independent and often obnoxiously proud of our freedoms. We can be very arrogant, but it is an arrogance born of the knowledge that we have found a superior way of life, and it is that very way of life that we would gladly export to the rest of the world.
These freedoms did not come without a cost, nor have they remained without our constant vigilance and strength. No other nation is as polarizing as ours; none attracts as much interest, both from those who love us and those who hate us.
We do not seek to annex land from other nations, or to appropriate their goods. We seek only fair, peaceful and mutually beneficial interactions with our global neighbors. We detest tyranny and injustice in any form, and are willing to die to prevent it, wherever it exists.
You speak of our Administration’s “lies” and “deception.” Our Administration does not have the luxury of being able to lie to us – as free citizens, we have access to information from myriad sources to allow us to discover the truth.
You speak of our soldiers wondering why they were sent to Iraq, and their families being discontent with their absence. Our soldiers know precisely why they are in Iraq, because they volunteered to go there; they are in Iraq to liberate millions of people who had, for far too long, lived under the despotism of Saddam Hussein. Their families pray for their safety, and wish that their sons and daughters, husbands and wives were home with them, but the vast majority of those family members would take up arms in an instant and serve alongside their loved ones to defend our way of life.
You criticize our handling of prisoners captured in this fight for freedom. I submit that our handling of prisoners is much more humane and just than the handling we receive from the enemy, and, indeed, even more benevolent than your nation’s treatment of your own citizens, should they show any sign of dissent. Those prisoners were actively pursuing the death of Americans, on or off the battlefield, and are not worthy of kindness or consideration, but it is given anyway.
Your lack of understanding of Americans has led you to believe that the very vocal dissent of our politicians and pundits is a sign of weakness. You interpret our disagreements as signs of division in the ranks. Our dissent is merely a part of our process. As Hugo Chavez learned when he spoke so boldly at the United Nations, it is acceptable for us to express discontent with our President, but not for outsiders to do so. Given a choice between an American President who makes us angry and an Iranian President who would have us submit, we will choose our own every time, and die to defend him, if necessary.
You point out that hundreds of thousands of Iranians live amongst us in friendship and peace – does it not seem strange to you that so many of your compatriots would rather live here, amongst infidels, than in their homeland? Does it not occur to you that these Iranian-Americans are accepted as equals, with all the same opportunities as any other American citizen? How many Americans have chosen to leave their homeland to embrace your “God-fearing, truth loving and justice seeking” way of life?
You attempt to solicit our pity and compassion for the plight of the Palestinians, those poor, oppressed victims of the evil Zionists. We do feel compassion for them, and wish that their situation could be different. But we understand where the responsibility lies for their dilemma. Israel has tried to leave them in peace, but they refuse to accept the offer. I am not here to debate the irrefutable facts of the Holocaust or the reasons behind the establishment of the Israeli state – rather to move forward given the realities of the world as it exists today. Israel exists, and, as long as these United States stand, it will continue to be a free and sovereign nation. The Israeli people, like the American people, want only to live in freedom and peace. They do not seek to infringe on their neighbors or to impose their will on anyone. If the Palestinians would invest the vast amounts of energy and ingenuity they expend trying to kill Jews into building a nation, they could have a prosperous and flourishing country. Their situation is the direct result of the choices they make, and their situation will improve when their choices become self-serving instead of combative and destructive.
So it goes with the rest of the Middle East. We liberated the Iraqis from their horrible dictator. Certainly we made some mistakes along the way. Our primary and most grievous mistake was our assumption that people instinctively embrace freedom. People who have never experienced freedom have no incentive to embrace it. People who have been told how to behave and how to believe every day of their lives, and their parents’ lives, have no concept of free choice. People who have never experienced the joy of succeeding on their own merits, of seeing their dreams come to fruition, have no measure of true happiness. We did not take decisive control of the newly liberated country, and we left the door open a crack for opportunists such as yourself. This was our error, and this is what we now must correct.
I said before that our government does not have the luxury of being able to lie to us. That applies even more wholly to you. You do not practice what you preach, sir. We know the horrors your people have to live with. We know about your torture policies. We know how completely you must suppress your people to prevent uprisings which will overthrow your government. We know about the unemployment, the drug use and the prostitution that is rampant in your society. We know that you routinely execute homosexuals simply because they are homosexual. We know that you spend hundreds of millions of dollars supporting Hizb’Allah, Hamas and the Mahdi Army in Iraq. We know that millions of your citizens wait, and watch, and pray to the God of their understanding to rescue them from the atrocities that their leaders impose upon them. We know that anyone who dares to suggest that there is a better way of life than that which they have is imprisoned, abused or killed. We see through the fantasy that you are trying to present to the world, and we do not accept it.
You have offered us the opportunity to repent. We offer the same to you. We believe, with every fiber of our beings, that ours is a superior system. We believe this not because of material things, though our freedoms have enabled us to amass many. We believe this because we have lived it, for generations, and know the elation of freedom. We know that our country is not just our own – it is the pinnacle to which millions of people around the world aspire. We built a Nation from nothing but heart, and we will defend it until our last breath.
Know, Mr. Ahmadinejad, that we will never submit. We may be slow to anger, but our wrath is fierce and terrible once it is aroused. We do not seek confrontation, but we will not run from it. This land is not about money, or buildings, or weapons, or power. This land is about People, without whom it would be only a collection of rock and brick and steel. It is Americans that make us great, whatever their heritage and beliefs. If you can understand that, you will have mastered the greatest gift of all.
April Clark
A Noble American
November 29, 2006
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Dates which live in Infamy
August 22nd, 2006. The date on which the president of Iran promises we will learn the Iranian response to the West's package of incentives offered, foolishly, in my opinion, in exchange for cessation of nuclear development. Will this be our next date to live in infamy?
Logic says it's a ridiculous suggestion - the hysterical rantings of deranged conspiracy theorists desperate for a new story line. But logic doesn't apply in the world of fanatical Islam. Logic is not a component of note in the lives of people who teach their children, almost from birth, that all Westerners are evil Satans who drink human blood for sustenance, that the greatest goal to which they can possibly aspire is to die in martyrdom, taking as many non-believers with them as possible.
Ahmadinejad openly and frequently insists that Israel must be obliterated. The Israeli-Hizb'Allah conflict is only the beginning of his attempts to bring his horrible vision to fruition. While we have wasted precious months and years trying to assemble a package of incentives that will sufficiently tempt this lunatic to renounce his insanity and play nicely with his neighbors, he has quietly assembled his proxy armies - Hizb'Allah in Lebanon, al-Sadr's militia in Iraq, countless other cells worldwide which have yet to be uncovered - built them, armed them, trained them and brainwashed them into irretrievable, expendable masses of humanity, who embrace his vision of the world with as much devotion as we embrace our children. He stated in his interview with Mike Wallace that "If a soldier is afraid of death, he will not be able to defend his land. So he must not be afraid of death." This remark is so significant, yet has been almost completely overlooked.
No fear of death - this is a concept that Westerners cannot grasp. Only a child who has been taught, from the age when we in America begin teaching the ABC's, that this life is a burden to be endured only as part of the path to the paradise of the afterlife can be unafraid of death - can value death more than life, be it his own or that of his neighbors. We must understand their ideology to defeat it. If we value their lives more than they do themselves, we do so at our own peril. We must recognize that there is no such thing as an innocent bystander in their version of the world - we are all equally evil, equally valid targets, the death of an Israeli or American newborn is valued every bit as much as the death of our most hardened soldier. Unless and until we accept this and quit wringing our hands over each civilian casualty we inflict in our attempts to defeat them, we are doomed to failure.
Only Ahmadinejad and his ilk know what he plans for August 22nd. Perhaps he will just defiantly reaffirm his previous statements that Iran will never give up her nuclear technology, and sanctions be damned. It seems quite possible that he will vaguely suggest that the incentives have some promise, are a basis for further negotiation, to continue the stall tactics that have served him so well for so long. But perhaps he has something much more significant in mind, something much more unthinkable to those of us who value this life. The next date which will live in infamy will, I fear, be infamous on a scale previously inconceivable to lovers of liberty and freedom. If it isn't August 22nd, it will be soon.
Logic says it's a ridiculous suggestion - the hysterical rantings of deranged conspiracy theorists desperate for a new story line. But logic doesn't apply in the world of fanatical Islam. Logic is not a component of note in the lives of people who teach their children, almost from birth, that all Westerners are evil Satans who drink human blood for sustenance, that the greatest goal to which they can possibly aspire is to die in martyrdom, taking as many non-believers with them as possible.
Ahmadinejad openly and frequently insists that Israel must be obliterated. The Israeli-Hizb'Allah conflict is only the beginning of his attempts to bring his horrible vision to fruition. While we have wasted precious months and years trying to assemble a package of incentives that will sufficiently tempt this lunatic to renounce his insanity and play nicely with his neighbors, he has quietly assembled his proxy armies - Hizb'Allah in Lebanon, al-Sadr's militia in Iraq, countless other cells worldwide which have yet to be uncovered - built them, armed them, trained them and brainwashed them into irretrievable, expendable masses of humanity, who embrace his vision of the world with as much devotion as we embrace our children. He stated in his interview with Mike Wallace that "If a soldier is afraid of death, he will not be able to defend his land. So he must not be afraid of death." This remark is so significant, yet has been almost completely overlooked.
No fear of death - this is a concept that Westerners cannot grasp. Only a child who has been taught, from the age when we in America begin teaching the ABC's, that this life is a burden to be endured only as part of the path to the paradise of the afterlife can be unafraid of death - can value death more than life, be it his own or that of his neighbors. We must understand their ideology to defeat it. If we value their lives more than they do themselves, we do so at our own peril. We must recognize that there is no such thing as an innocent bystander in their version of the world - we are all equally evil, equally valid targets, the death of an Israeli or American newborn is valued every bit as much as the death of our most hardened soldier. Unless and until we accept this and quit wringing our hands over each civilian casualty we inflict in our attempts to defeat them, we are doomed to failure.
Only Ahmadinejad and his ilk know what he plans for August 22nd. Perhaps he will just defiantly reaffirm his previous statements that Iran will never give up her nuclear technology, and sanctions be damned. It seems quite possible that he will vaguely suggest that the incentives have some promise, are a basis for further negotiation, to continue the stall tactics that have served him so well for so long. But perhaps he has something much more significant in mind, something much more unthinkable to those of us who value this life. The next date which will live in infamy will, I fear, be infamous on a scale previously inconceivable to lovers of liberty and freedom. If it isn't August 22nd, it will be soon.
Saturday, May 20, 2006
Border Tax?
Fox News and Opinion Dynamics released new poll results yesterday indicating that 52% of Americans would be willing to pay an additional $100 per year in taxes to defend the border. Excuse me? Am I missing something here? Is it not the first and foremost duty of the government of our nation to protect its citizens?
No one is more hawkish on border security than yours truly. I would like to see the border so tightly secured that not even a mouse could breach it. But the exorbitant taxes I already pay are, or at least should be, more than adequate to protect whatever small chunk of the border (actually borders -- the northern border needs protection, too) is my personal responsibility. Rather than assessing additional taxes to perform their first duty, I would like to direct the government to take my $100 from one of their many pork barrel earmarks -- perhaps from a study of the effects of bovine emissions on the atmosphere, or the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere".
It appears that more than half of our citizens have not read, or do not understand, the Constitution of the United States, the preamble of which guarantees our security. Notably absent from the Constitution is any passage granting our representatives the right to indiscriminately redistribute the wealth of all for the pleasures of few. The idea that it is somehow acceptable for our federal tax dollars to be used to build parking lots, museums and a multitude of other pet projects which are of questionable value even to the residents in the immediate vicinity is absurd. The federal government is seizing increasingly more power, usually without our knowledge and always without our permission. It is time to take back our nation.
No one is more hawkish on border security than yours truly. I would like to see the border so tightly secured that not even a mouse could breach it. But the exorbitant taxes I already pay are, or at least should be, more than adequate to protect whatever small chunk of the border (actually borders -- the northern border needs protection, too) is my personal responsibility. Rather than assessing additional taxes to perform their first duty, I would like to direct the government to take my $100 from one of their many pork barrel earmarks -- perhaps from a study of the effects of bovine emissions on the atmosphere, or the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere".
It appears that more than half of our citizens have not read, or do not understand, the Constitution of the United States, the preamble of which guarantees our security. Notably absent from the Constitution is any passage granting our representatives the right to indiscriminately redistribute the wealth of all for the pleasures of few. The idea that it is somehow acceptable for our federal tax dollars to be used to build parking lots, museums and a multitude of other pet projects which are of questionable value even to the residents in the immediate vicinity is absurd. The federal government is seizing increasingly more power, usually without our knowledge and always without our permission. It is time to take back our nation.
Nothing is going to change if we continue to support the status quo. As long as the abuses of our freedom are shrugged off by the abused, they will continue. Communications with our representatives are answered with form letters, often form letters indicating that the content of our communication was not noted or understood. I have received such letters from more than one of my own representatives, thanking me for my support of the very issue I wrote to vehemently protest, or addressing an issue that was in no way remotely connected to my original communication. They are no longer listening to their constituents, but rather are playing the political power game -- every public action is designed to garner re-election support, every private action to further their own personal position. This is unacceptable.
As voters, it is our responsibility to know what our elected officials are doing. If we do not educate ourselves and insist on more from those we elect, we will deserve whatever crumbs they choose to toss our way.
Sunday, May 07, 2006
An Open Letter to the United States Congress from a concerned citizen
I am, by any standard, an American. My ancestors fought with George Washington at Valley Forge, stood proudly with both the North and the South during the Civil War, served in both World Wars and, at every turn, have unwaveringly supported the tactics and tenets of this great Nation. Patriotism and loyalty to country are deeply ingrained in my line – my gratitude to the men and women who gave their lives for my freedom is immeasurable.
With this history, it is nearly implausible to me that I find it necessary to write this letter.
I represent the Silent Majority, the mainstream American citizen who has found it increasingly difficult to remain silent, and who can no longer bear to passively allow the behaviors of our representative government to go unchecked without speaking my mind. It appears that a reminder is needed, that the purpose of your appointment has been forgotten, that the tremendous responsibility which rests upon your shoulders has been cast callously aside for personal interest and political gain. I implore you to read my words, and, much more importantly, to comprehend their gravity and correct our course before this great Nation is lost.
You are a Public Servant. Your first responsibility is to represent the interests of your constituents to the best of your ability. You do not work for a special interest group, a lobbyist, or personal gain. You are no more accountable to a wealthy and influential voter than to a homeless child. Your personal feelings, beliefs and morals are irrelevant – when you accepted your position you agreed to sacrifice your own desires for the greater good. It is not your job to judge those you serve or those with whom you serve. It is your duty to put others first, to forfeit your own wishes, if necessary, to best represent those who appointed you their trusted servant.
It is not in the best interest of your citizens to watch your histrionic posturing for the news cameras. We are not impressed by your ability to impede progress on every front. We do not appreciate your pomposity and bravado – we do not applaud your willingness to squander our hard earned wages with complete disregard. We voted for you, hired you, if you will, because we believed you were equal to the task. We gave you our collective voice and trusted you to use it not to defame, but to uplift; not to encumber, but to facilitate. You are failing us. This is your annual review, and your performance is abysmal.
The threats we face in today’s global climate are entirely too real and horrific to be overlooked for a single second. As a nation, we are the target of intense animosity from every corner of the globe. There are real dragons for you to slay – it is not necessary for you to battle your fellow elected officials in an attempt to gain our admiration and respect.
We are in desperate need of leadership – honest, cooperative, selfless leadership from a body of people more concerned with the fate of their nation than their personal chances for re-election. We have thirsted so long for persons of action, for leaders who make a difference, for someone to give us hope.
The decline of our society is apparent at every turn. Children kill other children or, worse, are slain by their own parents. Drugs, alcohol, poverty and depravity are fixtures on the evening news. Bigotry and racism, though no longer blatant in day to day existence for most of us, still worm their way through our lives, all too often used as political ploys by your members. As a people, we are losing our desire to willingly help others because our elected officials have their hands deep in our pockets, redistributing our wealth to suit their whims, leaving us in doubt of our ability to survive. The example being set for us is one of conflict and corruption, not cooperation, and the message you send is not making us better but draining us of our will to better ourselves.
We implore you to use your powers of reason not to find new and inventive ways to thwart those across the aisle, but to restore our Nation to its former glory. We beg you to apply the creativity you exhibit in so many negative and immoral ways to reducing the national debt, improving our security, and restoring our pride in our country. Please, before it is too late, remember your responsibilities and those you serve – show us that our faith in you wasn’t misplaced. Allow us, once again, to be proud to be Americans.
With this history, it is nearly implausible to me that I find it necessary to write this letter.
I represent the Silent Majority, the mainstream American citizen who has found it increasingly difficult to remain silent, and who can no longer bear to passively allow the behaviors of our representative government to go unchecked without speaking my mind. It appears that a reminder is needed, that the purpose of your appointment has been forgotten, that the tremendous responsibility which rests upon your shoulders has been cast callously aside for personal interest and political gain. I implore you to read my words, and, much more importantly, to comprehend their gravity and correct our course before this great Nation is lost.
You are a Public Servant. Your first responsibility is to represent the interests of your constituents to the best of your ability. You do not work for a special interest group, a lobbyist, or personal gain. You are no more accountable to a wealthy and influential voter than to a homeless child. Your personal feelings, beliefs and morals are irrelevant – when you accepted your position you agreed to sacrifice your own desires for the greater good. It is not your job to judge those you serve or those with whom you serve. It is your duty to put others first, to forfeit your own wishes, if necessary, to best represent those who appointed you their trusted servant.
It is not in the best interest of your citizens to watch your histrionic posturing for the news cameras. We are not impressed by your ability to impede progress on every front. We do not appreciate your pomposity and bravado – we do not applaud your willingness to squander our hard earned wages with complete disregard. We voted for you, hired you, if you will, because we believed you were equal to the task. We gave you our collective voice and trusted you to use it not to defame, but to uplift; not to encumber, but to facilitate. You are failing us. This is your annual review, and your performance is abysmal.
The threats we face in today’s global climate are entirely too real and horrific to be overlooked for a single second. As a nation, we are the target of intense animosity from every corner of the globe. There are real dragons for you to slay – it is not necessary for you to battle your fellow elected officials in an attempt to gain our admiration and respect.
We are in desperate need of leadership – honest, cooperative, selfless leadership from a body of people more concerned with the fate of their nation than their personal chances for re-election. We have thirsted so long for persons of action, for leaders who make a difference, for someone to give us hope.
The decline of our society is apparent at every turn. Children kill other children or, worse, are slain by their own parents. Drugs, alcohol, poverty and depravity are fixtures on the evening news. Bigotry and racism, though no longer blatant in day to day existence for most of us, still worm their way through our lives, all too often used as political ploys by your members. As a people, we are losing our desire to willingly help others because our elected officials have their hands deep in our pockets, redistributing our wealth to suit their whims, leaving us in doubt of our ability to survive. The example being set for us is one of conflict and corruption, not cooperation, and the message you send is not making us better but draining us of our will to better ourselves.
We implore you to use your powers of reason not to find new and inventive ways to thwart those across the aisle, but to restore our Nation to its former glory. We beg you to apply the creativity you exhibit in so many negative and immoral ways to reducing the national debt, improving our security, and restoring our pride in our country. Please, before it is too late, remember your responsibilities and those you serve – show us that our faith in you wasn’t misplaced. Allow us, once again, to be proud to be Americans.
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