Letter to Congressman Don Young

(Below is my letter to Alaska's Congressman Don Young, in answer to his smarmy response to my letter regarding the Iraq War. Congressman Young's letter is quoted below in it's entirety.)

Congressman Young:

I'm convinced that you and "295 of your fellow House Members from both sides of the aisle" have allowed yourselves to be taken in by a deceitful administration which rushed our country into a "Catch 22" type war which is proving more each day to be a horrible, bloody mistake for our country. Many of you seemed even eager for this war and many still have your heads stuck in the sand in denial - and the rest of the world is passing you by.

Few of you "House Members from both sides of the aisle" troubled yourselves to take the time to 'look under the rock' to check out the facts to determine if going to war was really the right thing to do. In my opinion, pardon me, but this is exactly what I believe your job is supposed to be, and what you are paid to do. Consequently, I believe you have failed abysmally in your job, and your duty to your country and to your constituents, not to mention the causes of peace in our world. Were I able, I would fire the lot of you in a heartbeat. Perhaps I can help with that next election.

Political motivations, political dogma and lord knows what all else motivated you collectively to jump on the bandwagon and beat the drums for war - fraudulently and illegally, against a nation which had zero responsibility for the 9/11 attacks and which offered no creditable threat to our nation. This is the bald and undeniable truth and must be said. To pretend otherwise is to demonstrate a profound and unbelievable detachment from reality and the facts, and exactly where you seem to be.

You have collectively authored a war which is disastrous for our nation, and for the world at large. This war has already cost over 2000 young American lives, and 200 billions of dollars, with no end in sight. This war has besmirched the honor and integrity of MY NATION which I proudly bore arms to defend. For that alone I can not forgive you nor the others who supported this illegal invasion of another nation for fraudulent reasons.

Saying something is so does not make it so. The whole world sees the rising tide of Islamic theocracy now occurring in Iraq, and the fertile breeding ground which the entire country is becoming for Islamic terrorists. Only a few heavily fortified and defended enclaves exist over the country to which our troops must retreat at night while the rest of the countryside must endure lawless anarchy . Your claims that Iraq 'has been returned to Democracy' is specious on it's very face as Iraq has never been a 'democratic' nation in it's history and most certainly is not now. What is occurring there today does not resemble democracy in the slightest. To pretend that it does is disingenuous at best, and seems much closer to just more smarmy deceit to me.

Perhaps you are easily fooled Mr. Young, but much of the rest of the world - including nearly 60% in our own nation today, are not.

Support bringing our troops home now!

On Nov 8, 2005, at 11:55 AM, Don.Young@mail.house.gov wrote:

November 8, 2005

Dear (Constituent):


Thank you for writing me regarding the situation in Iraq. This is a very important issue and I appreciate you taking the time to share your views.

I joined 295 of my fellow House Members from both sides of the aisle to authorize the President to use force against Iraq to protect the U.S. and enforce U.N. resolutions. We were joined by over two-thirds of the U.S. Senate. I made this difficult decision because I believed it was critical to the security of the United States that an aggressive and belligerent Iraq be defanged.

I am confident that the President's rationale for beginning military action in Iraq was justified. No one knowledgeable on Middle Eastern affairs seriously believed that Hussein was not trying his hardest to acquire weapons of mass destruction, and that with them he would have
threatened the United States. The UN diplomatic disagreements were over how long Iraq should be allowed to flaunt UN resolutions, not over whether Iraq is a threat or in defiance of international efforts to disarm it.

Now we must honor our commitment to the Iraqi people to restore order to their country. Abandoning Iraq before the job is done will leave a breeding ground of terror and Islamic militancy. Both the Baathist elements that remain, and the Islamic-militancy that we have uncovered, must be defeated. We have already come a long way; Iraq has been returned
to democracy and the constitution is on track. I remain committed to completing what we have begun.

I hope you find this information useful and please do not hesitate to contact me again if I can be of further assistance.

Sincerely,

DON YOUNG
Congressman for All Alaska
DY/cc-44419