Killing people who kill people to show killing people is wrong.

Sent to Mr. George W. Bush, Wednesday, March 26th, 2008


The Presidents Contact Information

Web Site: www.whitehouse.gov
E-mail: president@whitehouse.gov
Phone: (202) 456-1414
Fax: (202) 456-2461
Address: The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW Washington, DC 20500





Dear Mr Bush,

This week after the announcement of the death toll in Iraq reaching 4,000 you said that:

"If we don't prevail, if we don't succeed in this war, then we are doomed forever,"

"I understand and sympathize with the mothers, with the widows, with the children who have lost their beloved ones in this country.""But honestly, it is well worth fighting and well worth investing the money and the treasure and the sweat and the tears in
Iraq."

Can I ask you how many lives until its NOT worth it? There is only one number that matters and that is 1. That’s how many loved ones you would have to lose, to a war over who knows what, to start fighting against it. If you would like more people to be behind your decision for war, you should put on a helmet, get a gun and go fight the war you started. Here is an application. Pass one onto Mr. Cheney also please.

http://www.usarec.army.mil/hq/warrant/download/a7434.pdf

To quote your Vice President:

“The president carries the biggest burden, obviously," "He's the one who
has to make the decision to commit young Americans, but we are fortunate to have a group of men and women, the all-volunteer force, who voluntarily put on the uniform and go in harm's way for the rest of us."

I ask you to please put yourself in harms way for the rest of us, since it was your decision to put us in harms way to begin with. Though I am sure you will not join , you have no reason to. You don’t have to use it as a last resort to get a college education because your family can not afford it due to the fact that it has cost taxpayers about $500 billion to fund this war. Because that’s what most of that “all - volunteer force” joined for. Not to die before they get a chance to better their lives. Or is it because you are to important to this country? Basically going with that theory you would be saying, because of your job, your LIFE ( the only thing a person truly has in the end ) is more valuable than that of the 4,000+ american soldiers you have sent to their death. What exactly is the “worth” of 4,000+ lives to you? Vice President Dick Cheney, who in 2005 told us that the insurgency was, I quote,

"in the last throes, if you will,"

was asked last week about polls showing that two-thirds of Americans don't think the fight in Iraq is worth it. Cheney's response:

"So?"

Seems as though 4,000 dead and our opinion doesn’t affect him much. Let me remind you this is not the United States of Bush/Cheney.

Maybe people would be behind this war more if you hadn’t stood on the deck of that aircraft carrier and declared major combat operations over when you were dressed ( but not fighting ) like a soldier. But 97 percent of the 4,000+ U.S. military deaths in Iraq came after you made this declaration. Why is complete with drawl a “defeat” in your eyes? Because in my eyes 4,000+ American families ( and counting ) have already been defeated. What would constitute a “victory”?

Some reasons you might feel that it has been “worth it”

• We stopped Saddam from using his Weapons of Mass Destruction.
• We got Saddam back for 9/11.
• We found the man responsible for 9/11, Bin Laden.
• It has made the lives of Iraqis better.
• The wonders it has done for our economy.
• Iran was scared to the negotiation table.
• Oil prices have been stabilized.
• Brought stability to the region.
• Brought democracy to the region.
• We killed all the terrorists and no one will want to be a terrorist again.
  
  

Yet none of these reasons have happened, much less make the deaths of 4,000+ Americans “worth it”. I keep mentioning the number 4,000 because that plateau was reached this week but there are other numbers affected by this war i also would like to also recognize:



145: Died of Self-Inflicted wounds

4: Missing or Captured

20,416: Wounded - No Medical Air Transport Required

8,904: Wounded - Medical Air Transport Required

23,052: Diseases/Other Medical - Medical Air Transport Required

40,229: MEDICAL AIR TRANSPORTS (HOSTILE AND NON-HOSTILE)

– IN IRAQ –

est. 30,000 IRAQI TROOPS KILLED and 90,000 SERIOUSLY INJURED Aug. 2007

785,957 IRAQI CIVILIANS KILLED and 1,414,723 SERIOUSLY INJURED June 2007

3,615 U.S. TROOPS KILLED and 50,677 SERIOUSLY INJURED June 2007

287 OTHER COALITION TROOPS KILLED and 861 SERIOUSLY INJURED June 2007

160 U.S. CIVILIANS KILLED and 288 SERIOUSLY INJURED June 2007

251 OTHER COALITION CIVILIANS KILLED and 452 SERIOUSLY INJURED June 2007

– IN AFGHANISTAN –

8,587 AFGHAN TROOPS KILLED and 25,761 SERIOUSLY INJURED July 2004

3,485 AFGHAN CIVILIANS KILLED and 6,273 SERIOUSLY INJURED July 2004

342 U.S. TROOPS KILLED and 1,026 SERIOUSLY INJURED Jan. 2007

278 OTHER COALITION TROOPS KILLED and 834 SERIOUSLY INJURED June 2007

That is at least 832,962 people killed, and 1,590,895
seriously injured in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Or about 277 times as many people killed in this war than in
the attacks of September 11th .

And more than 16 times as many people that have been killed in
this war than in all terrorist attacks in the world since 1968.

So why exactly are we fighting? It seems like we are the terrorists now. In writting this letter, I know that the best chance there is for the war to come to an end will come when there is a new President elected, but i am asking you to please end the war now. The soldiers that passed may not have died in vein, but at least no one else will have to give their lives for nothing. Thank You.



Signed,

Mr. Zackery R. Hixon