Human Heritage Press


Home Considering All Things Considered	GEN. COLIN F. POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE OF THE UNITED STATES Dept of State, Washington, DC PLEASE RESIGN NOW, Before the Election Reaffirm Yourself as an Ethical Person, Independent from the Bush Administration, and Help Americans Understand Our Crisis of Truth... September 11, 2004 Dear Secretary Powell: Your lifetime of service to our United States has been above reproach. Your character is proven by your authentic achievements. Unlike others of your Bush administration colleagues, your image is not a fabrication of political experts and, therefore, your character is not an empty word. Your public standing is based upon international observation that you are a person of uncompromising integrity. Therefore, your allegiance to the Bush administration is incomprehensible at this pivotal moment in our nation's life. I, am one of millions of your fellow citizens who hold you in the highest regard. I am respectfully asking you to cease conferring your imprimatur of respectability and legitimacy to an administration whose policies and behavior, whenever exposed, are often illegitimate, never in the public interest and rarely worthy of respect. You know the reality behind the images fabricated for public consumption. You are the one person in America with the credibility to immediately enable our nation to see this crisis of truth and ethics in its presidency. Yes, it would require that you sacrifice your standing with the Republican Party. However, the Republican Party of George W. Bush proudly stands outside our nation's enormous achievements in international relations, diplomacy, jurisprudence, and scientific, cultural and domestic social progress. It escapes no knowledgeable American after four years of listening to President Bush, that his understanding of the great achievements of our culture remains stuck at an unacceptably primitive level. Republicans at their most recent convention were not highlighting your authentic achievements and I can guess that Republican ideologues have contributed to your struggles. Current generations of American citizens are desperate for a leader who makes such a sacrifice for their sake and future generations will celebrate your courage. You are bigger than the Neoconservative Republican Party. As Secretary of our American State, you have every advantage of knowledge and oversight. You, as a young soldier, risked your own precious life and fought courageously in Viet Nam, which was, prior to Iraq, our nation's most controversial foreign war. You ascended to become a distinguished general and the highest military officer in this great nation. Despite your being a daily subject of "news," relatively few Americans truly understand the full breadth of your achievement. I do. I graduated as one of two cadets who were the first black graduates of Howe Military School in 1964. I am four months older than George W. Bush. Based upon my record as an award-winning commander, Indiana state speech champion, scholar and athlete, I was offered an opportunity to attend West Point. I would guess that you and I would have been great friends. I admire your achievement precisely because I decided against West Point and a military life. Older veteran officers of WWII at my military school were unofficially warning us about the untruths already being told to our nation. I opted for Stanford ('68). The line of President Johnson, Sec. of Defense, Robert McNamara and Gen. Westmoreland that "we must invade Viet Nam to preempt a threat," is now distressingly familiar. I went on to lobby against that war because of its corrosive damage to our international honor and its decimation of our generation. I knew those older veterans were attempting to save my life, hence, I became a war protestor. John Kerry and thousands of others returned from Viet Nam with the same opposition to that war in order to stem any further sacrifice of our generation. Therefore, you surely understand the treachery and hypocrisy that underlies all those (e.g. "Swift Boat" sponsors) who now attack Kerry. Whether we agree with him or not, his courage in opposing the atrocities of the very war in which he had just won honors is the finest example of American citizenship. You, more than most other Americans must know the deep and lasting damage that our entire society suffers anytime a president uses lies and deceit to prosecute both foreign wars and domestic programs. Would the War on Iraq enjoy any significant degree of public support if our news outlets were allowed by the (Bush) Pentagon full access to Army hospitals with maimed and mutilated soldiers, or the caskets, that are the real cost of this War? Why isn't the American public privy to the oil contracts that our tax money underwrites and why isn't Iraqi society benefiting from their national wealth, instead of a few U.S. companies? Do Americans know what our soldiers are required to do to suppress Iraqi men, women and children in their homes, schools, market-places and farms in order to maintain the American occupation? You know these things are just plain wrong. Our democracy is completely dependent upon mutual trust between you as leaders and we who are lead. Despite the short term popularity that national leaders can obtain from military action, no democracy has yet shown itself able to overcome this longer term erosion of mutual trust. Robert McNamara recently admitted that as Secretary of Defense he told capital lies in order to popularize the Viet Nam War. Yet, we are today still arguing the Viet Nam War because so many of our generation, who 35 years ago risked their lives, are still invested in his lies. Certain veterans cannot accept the reality that our entire generation's carnage, pain and loss were based upon fraud. For wronged Viet Nam veterans to appropriately direct their rage at McNamara and the other leaders who committed the capital fraud would require a self-admission of vulnerability that is perhaps too devastating. It is unarguable that both you and John Kerry were fighting and dodging real bullets, bombs and knives in Viet Nam. While Mr. Bush's "Swift Boat" front group attempts to undermine the public's confidence in that undeniable truth, it is also just as clear that he, Bush, Dick Cheney, Rumsfeld, Richard Perle, Wolfowitz and other war promoters in your midst, were not there, despite their eligibility and enthusiastic "support for that war." It is now revealed that George W. Bush not only avoided service in Viet Nam, most outrageously, he has yet to complete the National Guard Service for which he wrongfully received an "honorable discharge." Surely, you know by now that he is not honorable. As George W. Bush belatedly and begrudgingly offers a perfunctory "John Kerry gave noble service," his duplicity directly discredits the service of YOU, all authentic combatants and all National Guardsmen. You have every reason to RESIGN. Your early resignation puts ethical distance between you, George W. Bush, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, the "Swift Boaters" and that entire cast of liars. It can help our entire generation heal from its thirty years of confusion. Most importantly, you can enable younger American generations to understand why that war and any illegitimate war is an attack on the heart of a democratic society. You certainly know that the prosecution of a "pre-emptive war" on the Republic of Iraq, and now its dubious occupation, flagrantly violates all our core values of justice. Our nation's historical precedents for that "preemptive" attack are a litany of our worst foreign policy mistakes. If George W. Bush had even a modest working knowledge of American history, he would have known this. The Iraq episode violates all treaties to which we have committed as a world leader. Beginning with the 1947 Nuremberg Trials, international law has made national leaders accountable for the attacks they initiate attacks against civilians in their homes, hospitals and schools. Despite their popularity as nationalists, such acts are decidedly criminal and such leaders cannot claim that "good intentions and ignorance of international law" immunize them from international justice. The administration that you serve was able to finesse the uncritical support of our media and, therefore, 80% of Americans. The power of the US military makes it impossible for any combination of nations to challenge us and otherwise bring any rogue American leader to justice. Nevertheless, as I read international law and every applicable treaty that our nation has signed, it is plausible that we are now a rogue state. This sad fact escapes neither friend nor foe outside our nation. America now elicits more fear and contempt, than respect. Our ability to "preempt" the socio-economic motivations for terrorism, which you know is our only effective protection, is now seriously crippled. The War on Iraq has won us nothing but shame. Only you can halt the slide into depths that the Bush administration is dragging our great culture. Your resignation would accomplish this by putting our entire citizenry on instant alert. The Bush administration is successfully maneuvering itself beyond all accountability even as it destabilizes the moral foundations of our state. Essential institutions that define democratic societies, such as habeas corpus(1778) and the Geneva Conventions, are considered as unnecessary and optional by Bush. Bush policy completely ignores the precedents that American diplomats, scholars and political leaders have crafted as our legacy to international relations, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UN Charter, Camp David Accords(1979), Oslo Peace Accords(1994), North Korean (1994) and other nuclear non-proliferation, land mine agreements; anti-pollution-clean-water statutes, and many others. America's 14th Amendment (1868: unconditional, "Equal Protection for all") is revered throughout the world as our most profound contribution to the legal protection of all citizens in any society. It is a cornerstone of any authentic democracy. It was added to our Constitution to reverse the vicious bigotry of the defeated and treasonous Confederacy. Yet, Atty Gen John Ashcroft has written of his admiration for the Confederacy. Mr. Bush has called for constricting of the rights of homosexual Americans, again, in disregard of the 14th Amendment. Countless treaties that could currently protect Americans and the world community, such as Kyoto, and that past American generations paid for with their lives and treasure have been abrogated by this president to whom you report. Mr. Bush has never exhibited in his spontaneous comments, his many speeches nor his official policy, even the most elementary understanding of the international laws and treaties that distinguish civilized and progressive societies from rogue states. More insidiously, the administration is consistently exposed as covertly implementing policies that will permanently cripple the legal foundations of our enlightened society. The following are merely a few of the many overwhelming reasons for you to separate yourself from the Bush administration before November 2, 2004, as a loud and clear message for the ages: 1. BUSH ADMINISTRATION POLICIES HAVE ESCALATED AND ARE DEEPENING ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION: Legislators, jurists and scientists throughout the world, who understand the immutable link between environmental health and human well-being, are appalled at the Bush administration's gutting of environmental protections. In order to stifle democratic debate and the public understanding of administration policies, Bush's language specialists flip truthful language on its head. For example, there is now documented proof that "Blue Skies" and "Clean Water" initiatives of Bush, intentionally allow for more polluting. The Bush tactic is to first misname environmentally destructive policies in order to intentionally confuse the public. Corporate executives with a long history as polluters are now in charge of sensitive programs and the administration proceeds to gut any environmental protection that stands in the way of their greed. This policy of Orwellian doublespeak is a cynical and direct assault on the trust of all citizens who care about the future in which our children and we must live. Environmental destruction and climate change are no longer "speculation" or theory that must be argued between "different schools of thought." The scientific evidence across many disciplines has been conclusive for many years. The scientifically proven central agents in global environmental degradation are fossil fuels burned for energy. However, it has been demonstrated in over thirty years of practical application that renewable organic fuels can easily replace fossil fuels. The habitat of indigenous people around the world, including coal mining regions of the US, are poisoned, stolen and their lives are ruined for an energy source that produces long term benefits only for its corporate owners. Coal and Big Oil enjoy countless trade and tax subsidies, diplomatic cartels and vast armies on the attack in Sudan, Chechnya, Nigeria, Burma, Indonesia, Iraq and elsewhere. However, a fraction of non-violent US government support would produce sustainable energy that is environmentally benign, grower-produced, biodegradable, market-responsive, cheaper, produces more and better jobs, and does not seduce America into either supporting dictators or attacking innocent populations. The members of the Bush administration, beginning with Goerge W., Dick Cheney, Codileeza Rice, etc., are completely invested in oil, nuclear and other technologically obsolete petrochemicals, as their source of personal wealth. They, therefore, in both their foreign war policy and domestic economic policy, have a serious conflict of interest with the economic and general health of this nation. Will you step away from them on this issue for the sake of our children, grandchildren and the health of the world? 2. GEORGE W. BUSH, THE CENTRAL VOICE OF OUR NATION, HAS PERSONALLY SET HIMSELF AGAINST ENLIGHTENED SCIENCE: In virtually every policy area in which enlightened leaders govern on empirical fact and specific evidence, George W. Bush instead chooses to rely upon an embarrassingly primitive level of superstition and Neoconservative political doctrine. His denial of resources for stem cell research is merely one example of this in the scientific arena. It is one thing for the public to observe occasional incompetence in any presidential administration, however, for a president to willfully institutionalize incompetence and ignorance is a stunning assault on our culture of knowledge, truth, and ethics: The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) is prohibited from carrying out its most basic responsibility of negotiating drug prices on behalf of the American taxpayer and consumer. Thusly, the FDA is no longer a player in an open and ethical "market" for pharmaceutical drugs, instead, the FDA has been consigned to be the victim of whatever pricing decisions the drug companies feel will best benefit their profit objectives. As of April 2001, Mr. Bush claimed that the enormous scientific potential of stem cell research was to no longer have the support of the US Federal Government. Mr. Bush and his Neoconservative patrons, of course, claim that denial of federal funds has no deleterious effect on such research. However, you and I know that most Americans do not fully appreciate the critical role that federal funding plays in basic technological research. The social progress and general well being of all humanity has been integrally tied to the basic research underwritten by the US government since the late 19th Century. Without federal infusion, basic medical research does not get done on behalf of all our citizens. The Beaureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms (ATF) has been prohibited by the Bush administration from either researching or publishing the effects of assault weapon on American society. As the legal -ban on assault weapons is due to expire this month, the NRA, in concert with the Bush administration, wants to suppress all data that would spur a proper public debate on this vital issue. Assault weapons have no purpose other than instantaneous murder and massive destruction. The suppression of essential data on them has the most direct effect on urban black, poor white and various ethnic communities that are not protected against the proliferation of illegal assault weapons. The Union of Concerned Scientists, whose members include many Nobel Laureates, has documented the administration's refusal to respect scientific evidence when such evidence contradicts its doctrines of political Neoconservatism and Christian Fundamentalism. The example that George W. Bush sets for American youth is that our president can arbitrarily ignore the sanctity of facts and the truth that is the direct consequence of those facts. This is the traditional attitude of dictators in backward "banana republics." From his one-dimensional "war on terror" and its, obviously, fabricated connection to Iraq, to health care, social policy and science, our nation and the world observe Mr. Bush making the vital decisions of this great culture from abysmal ignorance and with prejudice. Over our 228-year history, the unparalleled progress of American culture is the triumph of empirical facts over superstition, religious and racial bigotry. Mr. Bush's denial of the primacy of scientific evidence has already compromised vital global progress that had begun prior to his presidency on matters of climate change, medical research, family planning in the most impoverished nations, protection of endangered animal and plant species on land and oceans, and many other matters. 3. GEORGE W. BUSH, THE CENTRAL VOICE OF OUR NATION, HAS PERSONALLY SET HIMSELF AGAINST SOCIAL PROGRESS: In June of 2001, the International Herald Tribune, (publ: Washington Post + NY Times) reported that the Bush administration was working in concert with fundamentalist Islamic groups around the world to suppress women's rights, as a method for also rolling back international abortion rights. Despite 9-11-01, there is every indication that the American Christian Right and various Islamic fundamentalists still coordinate to block women's access to comprehensive health care, because unconditional healthcare that is controlled by women, rightfully, includes family planning and abortion. Social progress, or, a society's ability to evolve and change, is a defining virtue of American society. Only a few generations ago you and I could be captured in Wyoming by forbears of Dick Cheney and sold down to Georgia as possessions of Zell Miller's forbears. However, the supreme virtue of America is that our black and white social progressives have fought, pushed and legislated a society in which you, properly, are more respected than both of them. As a throwback to our dark past where bigotry and social discrimination reigned, Mr. Bush embraces of the anti-homosexual bigotry of the Religious Right. This is the worst example of sociopathic bias by any president since before the Civil Rights era of 1965. If Mr. Bush's ideology is intertwined with bigotry against vulnerable classes of citizens, then his presentation of you and other African-Americans in positions of authority is hollow and token imagery, despite your singular talent and experience. As Mr. Bush and the Religious Right pander their particular brand of softcore hatred, they are a direct affront to the human rights movement that is the larger context for all our Civil Rights. Mr. Bush shows little genuine compassion for those who have nothing to offer him. His unacceptible soft core hatred is a direct insult to you, me, all vulnerable Americans and is a compelling reaon for your resignation. 4. Iraq: AS YOU KNOW BETTER THAN MOST, IF THE US WERE TO, UNCONDITIONALLY, RETURN CONTROL OF IRAQI OIL TO THE IRAQI PEOPLE, THEIR RESENTMENT AND SUPPORT FOR THE INSURGENCY WOULD BE GREATLY REDUCED. The Iraqi people are not angry about the absence of Saddam Hussein. However, they did not ask for or expect to pay for his removal with their well being, their lives and end up with a society in which the average person is worse off than under Saddam. Bush stood in front of the world, defied the legalities of a UN Security Council vote and confidently promised the opposite. Iraq is now too dangerous for democratic processes to take hold and there is a growing consensus around the world that civil war is more likely than not. Mr. Bush chose to ignore all the Middle East scholars and experts both in his own nation and at the United Nations who predicted all of this. As Mr. Bush's reasons for the War continue to slide and shift, his latest is that "we attract terrorists into Iraq so that they don't come here." Yet, the only truth to that proposition is that the Bush "policy" has singularly created devastating violence throughout Iraq and is still today destroying the lives of a massive number of Iraqi citizens. More American soldiers were wounded and maimed in August 2004 than any other month of this War. The past few weeks, through the date of this letter, has seen the highest number of American and Iraqi casualties since April-May, the highest months. America had no moral, legal or military necessity to do this. Bush's proposition that Iraqis deserve and can absorb whatever level of violence that he decides to "attract into Iraq," is outrageous and racist IMPERIALISM. Reasonable people must ignore 20th Century history and suspend logic and common sense to follow the bizarre calculus and empty justifications of George W. Bush & Co. There is no logic or evidence that terrorists who are nurtured in Iraq -- an Iraq, that is deconstructing clearly because of George Bush -- will not travel to the source of their hatred: the United States. The Bush calculus is absurd. At present, the overwhelming reason for the general Iraqi rage against America are the racist sacrificing of Iraqi lives and the Bush administration's no-bid, secretive oil contracts that are impoverishing the Iraqi people. You know that George Bush and Cheney are not about to relinquish their unspoken objective and prize of the War. Whether Bush wins or loses on November 2, he, Cheney and their patrons will keep the oil of the Iraqi people. So far, they have been successful at keeping the American media from questioning this central and obvious issue. You certainly know that Iraq has not since 1991 had an air force, a navy, nor any other means to deliver the alleged, and never proven, Weapons of Mass Destruction that were the first and unequivocal reason for the US prosecuted attack on that sovereign nation. No evidence of a credibleIraqi air, naval or ground attack force was ever displayed over the eleven years that the US and Britain attacked Iraq's "No Fly Zone" and infrastructure between 1992 and 2003. Many Iraqis died from these attacks. You certainly must also know that the UNSCOM Report of December 1998 never claimed such WMD, nor did the UNMOVIC Report of 2002-3, nor has Jane's Defense Publications (UK) -- the world's number one private source of military troop and arms research data. In Sept 2002 the publishers of Jane's adamantly denied that Iraq possessed a WMD capability and published their opposition to any so-called "pre-emptive war." You as a former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs are much more aware of the unsupportable case for the War on Iraq. Need I mention the rape and sexual assault of 25% of our female soldiers by their fellow Americans, or Abu Graive and other gross violations of our values and legal requirements? This war has badly undermined our international credibility and forces those who support it to abandon American values of decency and legality. Whether or not it is "popular" in 2004, you have enough wisdom to know what the consequences will surely be, as it is already eating at the soul of our society. Why don't you leave Bush-Cheney and make a statement of support for the 1,000 soldiers and thousands more Iraqis that have died for no discernable reason other than to replace the Iraqi Baathist Party with the US Republican Party. 5. Israel: AS LONG AS ISRAEL WILLINGLY ACCEPTS HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS FROM EVERY AMERICAN TAXPAYER, $26 FOR EACH AND EVERY AMERICAN MAN, WOMAN AND CHILD, EVERY YEAR, AND AS LONG AS AMERICAN TAXPAYERS PAY FOR THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT, IT IS A FICTION THAT "ISRAEL IS A COMPLETELY SOVEREIGN NATION OVER WHICH AMERICA HAS NO INFLUENCE." Those who know that the Sharonist's best opportunity to take land from Palestinians is through the continuing chaos, violence and its atrocious wall maintain this fiction for the unquestioning public. As a general officer, you certainly know that a general atmosphere of violence, fear and chaos obtains more for one of the world's premier military regimes, than would open, just and fair negotiations in front of the community of nations. The Bush administration's abandonment of America's direct responsibility to enforce a peace process has left innocent Israelis and Palestinians to a brutal cycle of illegal bulldozing-property-confiscation, revenge, occupation and terror. Bush administration unconditional support of Sharon's particular brand of oppression, illegal imprisonments and land thievery is a further reason for global resentment of our nation; this, as much as any particular source of outrage, makes innocent American citizens vulnerable to "retaliatory" violence from unpredictable sources. In March of 2002 you were in Israel and obviously prepared to discuss the removal of Israel from its illegal incursion into Gaza. You were clearly preparing to bring the parties together in a just and equitable manner. George Bush very publicly pulled you out bereft of any commitment to an authentic peace process. Nor did he discourage that first and most brutal Israeli incursion. Israel's land thefts, targeting of all moderate Palestinian and repression of its own peace elements, are but a few of the statistically proven reasons for random violence against Israelis. Merely two weeks after an Israeli settler in 1995 murdered Prime Minster Yitzhak Rabin, the visionary architect of the Oslo Peace Plan, Ariel Sharon wrote an article in the Jerusalem Post (Nov.95) expressing his relief that "now the Oslo Plan can be overturned." The Road Map (2002) was largely created in Arab capitols but needed vigorous US follow-up and management. If not dead, it is now dormant. You are well aware of the comprehensive, yet pro forma, "Geneva Accord" that was signed last year by Israelis and Palestinians. It can go nowhere without US support. Competent, sincere and comprehensive US support of either the Road Map or Geneva Accords could have long ago effectively ended the carnage and restored the Oslo Peace dream for which Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in 1995. Today, the situation for people of conscience in Israel and Palestine is more desperate than at any time since 1948. President Clinton was not able to complete his cycle of negotiations with Barak and Arafat in September 2000. Into the void marched Ariel Sharon as he stormed the Temple Mount with his troopers. This four year Intefada is a vast nightmare of Sharonist proportions. The missing element in Mid East peace since 2000 has been a capable and engaged president of the United States. We as Americans pay dearly with our taxes for our voice in Israeli foreign affairs; George Bush has not protected our financial interest nor enforced our moral voice in this disaster. Please leave and loudly endorse the negotiations that you know would finally end the chaos of that entire region and the central role that Israel-Palestine plays in fomenting hatred of Americans. 6. SUDAN: After many months of critical delay, this week you have finally declared the extermination of black Sudanese GENOCIDE. For many months EVERY RELIABLE AND NON-BIASED TRANSNATIONAL SOURCE HAS BEEN STATING UNEQUIVOCALLY THAT THE GOVERNMENT OF SUDAN HAS BEEN SPONSORING AND WORKING IN CLOSE COORDINATION WITH THE JANJAWEED MILITIAS FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS EXTERMINATION. THE JANJAWEED ARE COMMONLY KNOWN IN THAT REGION AS THE "ARAB KLU KLUX KLAN." For hundreds of thousands it is already too late. For us, as the so-called "super-power," to define this genocide, now requires us to lead a meaningful international response. However, even for this authentic human rights crisis, the Sudanese genocide, the Bush administration has no international capital left upon which he could possibly summon a new "coalition of the willing," cause worthy or not. I have no doubt about your sincerity based upon your long diplomatic and public record. However, to assume that human rights is a motivating factor in the decision making of Mr. Bush, is not assumable or discernable from any part of his life history. I would believe that the "genocide" declaration of today is after a long and difficult struggle on your part. The long unchecked Sudanese genocide is one more revelation of the emptiness of Mr. Bush's "compassionate" preachments. It further, yet, reveals the lie behind the "humanitarian" argument for the War on Iraq. The Sudanese government is at least as vicious as Saddam Hussein had ever been. Yet, will you have the authority, budget and troops to lead the Security Council in enforcing the well being and safety of the Sudanese? Despite a lot of rhetoric and a superficial touchdown in Africa, Mr. Bush has yet to fully fund his promises on AIDS and other initiatives on Africa. Big public promises while covertly withholding all money to render them anything but EMPTY, is the consistent pattern of Mr. Bush. Please resign and express your disgust with the African hair that is still being split by your boss. 7. THE UNITED NATIONS, WITH ITS VIRTUES AND VICES, WAS DESIGNED BY THE WORLD'S TOP DIPLOMATS AND SCHOLARS AND PAID DIRECT HOMAGE TO THE WWII ALLIANCE THAT WAS LEAD BY THE UNITED STATES UNDER FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT. THE UN IS AN EVOLUTIONARY, VISIONARY AND RATIONAL RESPONSE TO THE DISASTERS, DEATH, WASTE AND DESTRUCTION THAT ARE INEVITABLE WITH NO GLOBAL SYSTEM OF INTERDEPENDENCE. Humanity's best thinkers were courageous enough to codify into the United Nations our species' most compelling lessons on statecraft, diplomacy, healthcare, children's rights, racism, women's' rights, genocide, ecology, and jurisprudence. Amongst these designers was the great African-American internationalist, Ralph Bunch. You know that if our species is to survive, the UN is a precious institution, the shrill anti-UN jingoism of American Neoconservatives, notwithstanding. Since mid 2002 the time and resources of the United Nations have been inordinately consumed by the crisis artificially created by the Bush administration in Iraq. Important and valuable UN officials, peacemakers and highly skilled diplomats have now been killed in the Iraq of George W. Bush. Any UN official will attest to the waste and fraud behind the entire Iraqi episode. The US was not at risk from Iraq. However, the peoples of the world who are truly at risk, such as in Sudan, Burma, Chechnya, etc. cannot obtain the life-sustaining support they urgently require from the Security Council. By lying about weapons of mass destruction, and retroactively manufacturing a "human rights crisis" as a reason for the War on Iraq, the US has helped poison the atmosphere for appropriate military intervention where authentic holocausts are actually occurring. Most importantly, as the world's only "super-power" is lead by a man who over a four year term has never once displayed an understanding of treaties or a personal capacity for negotiating with friend or foe, it likewise follows that the military personnel and assets of that power are unavailable for the honorable service of authentic peace-keeping. The United Nations will never receive its proper military or moral support as long as we, the Super-Power, are lead by a person who is distinguished by his parochialism, unilateralism, superstition and mediocrity. Please resign and explain to the American people why we all have a vital and immediate stake in global instutions, international cooperation, treaties and diplomacy. These are but a few reasons for you to leave the Bush administration before the election of November 2, 2004. A vast majority of the American people would immediately agree with you and see through the incompetence, mediocrity, bigotry and longer term hazard that George W. Bush presents for our great nation. Your courage at this moment may be the last and best hope for the future of the United States of America. Please consider it now. Very truly yours, Kenneth M. Washington, Board Member, Indinapolis Peace & Justice Center	Other Articles: David Horowitz Pie-Faced At Butler University!!! by Keni Washington An Open Question To All Able-bodied Supporters of the War On Iraq: Why Aren't You In Iraq? by Keni Washington 9-11-04 -- Letter to Secretary Powell by Keni Washington 9-23-04 -- Open letter to Iraq by Keni Washington

GEN. COLIN F. POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE OF THE UNITED STATES
Dept of State, Washington, DC

PLEASE RESIGN NOW, Before the Election

Reaffirm Yourself as an Ethical Person, Independent from the Bush Administration, and Help Americans Understand Our Crisis of Truth...

September 11, 2004

Dear Secretary Powell:

Your lifetime of service to our United States has been above reproach. Your character is proven by your authentic achievements. Unlike others of your Bush administration colleagues, your image is not a fabrication of political experts and, therefore, your character is not an empty word. Your public standing is based upon international observation that you are a person of uncompromising integrity.

Therefore, your allegiance to the Bush administration is incomprehensible at this pivotal moment in our nation's life.

I, am one of millions of your fellow citizens who hold you in the highest regard. I am respectfully asking you to cease conferring your imprimatur of respectability and legitimacy to an administration whose policies and behavior, whenever exposed, are often illegitimate, never in the public interest and rarely worthy of respect. You know the reality behind the images fabricated for public consumption. You are the one person in America with the credibility to immediately enable our nation to see this crisis of truth and ethics in its presidency. Yes, it would require that you sacrifice your standing with the Republican Party. However, the Republican Party of George W. Bush proudly stands outside our nation's enormous achievements in international relations, diplomacy, jurisprudence, and scientific, cultural and domestic social progress. It escapes no knowledgeable American after four years of listening to President Bush, that his understanding of the great achievements of our culture remains stuck at an unacceptably primitive level. Republicans at their most recent convention were not highlighting your authentic achievements and I can guess that Republican ideologues have contributed to your struggles. Current generations of American citizens are desperate for a leader who makes such a sacrifice for their sake and future generations will celebrate your courage. You are bigger than the Neoconservative Republican Party.

As Secretary of our American State, you have every advantage of knowledge and oversight. You, as a young soldier, risked your own precious life and fought courageously in Viet Nam, which was, prior to Iraq, our nation's most controversial foreign war. You ascended to become a distinguished general and the highest military officer in this great nation.

Despite your being a daily subject of "news," relatively few Americans truly understand the full breadth of your achievement. I do. I graduated as one of two cadets who were the first black graduates of Howe Military School in 1964. I am four months older than George W. Bush. Based upon my record as an award-winning commander, Indiana state speech champion, scholar and athlete, I was offered an opportunity to attend West Point. I would guess that you and I would have been great friends. I admire your achievement precisely because I decided against West Point and a military life. Older veteran officers of WWII at my military school were unofficially warning us about the untruths already being told to our nation. I opted for Stanford ('68).

The line of President Johnson, Sec. of Defense, Robert McNamara and Gen. Westmoreland that "we must invade Viet Nam to preempt a threat," is now distressingly familiar. I went on to lobby against that war because of its corrosive damage to our international honor and its decimation of our generation. I knew those older veterans were attempting to save my life, hence, I became a war protestor.

John Kerry and thousands of others returned from Viet Nam with the same opposition to that war in order to stem any further sacrifice of our generation. Therefore, you surely understand the treachery and hypocrisy that underlies all those (e.g. "Swift Boat" sponsors) who now attack Kerry. Whether we agree with him or not, his courage in opposing the atrocities of the very war in which he had just won honors is the finest example of American citizenship.

You, more than most other Americans must know the deep and lasting damage that our entire society suffers anytime a president uses lies and deceit to prosecute both foreign wars and domestic programs. Would the War on Iraq enjoy any significant degree of public support if our news outlets were allowed by the (Bush) Pentagon full access to Army hospitals with maimed and mutilated soldiers, or the caskets, that are the real cost of this War? Why isn't the American public privy to the oil contracts that our tax money underwrites and why isn't Iraqi society benefiting from their national wealth, instead of a few U.S. companies? Do Americans know what our soldiers are required to do to suppress Iraqi men, women and children in their homes, schools, market-places and farms in order to maintain the American occupation? You know these things are just plain wrong.

Our democracy is completely dependent upon mutual trust between you as leaders and we who are lead. Despite the short term popularity that national leaders can obtain from military action, no democracy has yet shown itself able to overcome this longer term erosion of mutual trust. Robert McNamara recently admitted that as Secretary of Defense he told capital lies in order to popularize the Viet Nam War. Yet, we are today still arguing the Viet Nam War because so many of our generation, who 35 years ago risked their lives, are still invested in his lies. Certain veterans cannot accept the reality that our entire generation's carnage, pain and loss were based upon fraud. For wronged Viet Nam veterans to appropriately direct their rage at McNamara and the other leaders who committed the capital fraud would require a self-admission of vulnerability that is perhaps too devastating.

It is unarguable that both you and John Kerry were fighting and dodging real bullets, bombs and knives in Viet Nam. While Mr. Bush's "Swift Boat" front group attempts to undermine the public's confidence in that undeniable truth, it is also just as clear that he, Bush, Dick Cheney, Rumsfeld, Richard Perle, Wolfowitz and other war promoters in your midst, were not there, despite their eligibility and enthusiastic "support for that war." It is now revealed that George W. Bush not only avoided service in Viet Nam, most outrageously, he has yet to complete the National Guard Service for which he wrongfully received an "honorable discharge." Surely, you know by now that he is not honorable. As George W. Bush belatedly and begrudgingly offers a perfunctory "John Kerry gave noble service," his duplicity directly discredits the service of YOU, all authentic combatants and all National Guardsmen. You have every reason to RESIGN.

Your early resignation puts ethical distance between you, George W. Bush, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, the "Swift Boaters" and that entire cast of liars. It can help our entire generation heal from its thirty years of confusion. Most importantly, you can enable younger American generations to understand why that war and any illegitimate war is an attack on the heart of a democratic society.

You certainly know that the prosecution of a "pre-emptive war" on the Republic of Iraq, and now its dubious occupation, flagrantly violates all our core values of justice. Our nation's historical precedents for that "preemptive" attack are a litany of our worst foreign policy mistakes. If George W. Bush had even a modest working knowledge of American history, he would have known this. The Iraq episode violates all treaties to which we have committed as a world leader. Beginning with the 1947 Nuremberg Trials, international law has made national leaders accountable for the attacks they initiate attacks against civilians in their homes, hospitals and schools. Despite their popularity as nationalists, such acts are decidedly criminal and such leaders cannot claim that "good intentions and ignorance of international law" immunize them from international justice. The administration that you serve was able to finesse the uncritical support of our media and, therefore, 80% of Americans. The power of the US military makes it impossible for any combination of nations to challenge us and otherwise bring any rogue American leader to justice.

Nevertheless, as I read international law and every applicable treaty that our nation has signed, it is plausible that we are now a rogue state. This sad fact escapes neither friend nor foe outside our nation. America now elicits more fear and contempt, than respect. Our ability to "preempt" the socio-economic motivations for terrorism, which you know is our only effective protection, is now seriously crippled. The War on Iraq has won us nothing but shame.

Only you can halt the slide into depths that the Bush administration is dragging our great culture. Your resignation would accomplish this by putting our entire citizenry on instant alert. The Bush administration is successfully maneuvering itself beyond all accountability even as it destabilizes the moral foundations of our state. Essential institutions that define democratic societies, such as habeas corpus(1778) and the Geneva Conventions, are considered as unnecessary and optional by Bush. Bush policy completely ignores the precedents that American diplomats, scholars and political leaders have crafted as our legacy to international relations, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UN Charter, Camp David Accords(1979), Oslo Peace Accords(1994), North Korean (1994) and other nuclear non-proliferation, land mine agreements; anti-pollution-clean-water statutes, and many others. America's 14th Amendment (1868: unconditional, "Equal Protection for all") is revered throughout the world as our most profound contribution to the legal protection of all citizens in any society. It is a cornerstone of any authentic democracy. It was added to our Constitution to reverse the vicious bigotry of the defeated and treasonous Confederacy. Yet, Atty Gen John Ashcroft has written of his admiration for the Confederacy. Mr. Bush has called for constricting of the rights of homosexual Americans, again, in disregard of the 14th Amendment.

Countless treaties that could currently protect Americans and the world community, such as Kyoto, and that past American generations paid for with their lives and treasure have been abrogated by this president to whom you report. Mr. Bush has never exhibited in his spontaneous comments, his many speeches nor his official policy, even the most elementary understanding of the international laws and treaties that distinguish civilized and progressive societies from rogue states. More insidiously, the administration is consistently exposed as covertly implementing policies that will permanently cripple the legal foundations of our enlightened society.

The following are merely a few of the many overwhelming reasons for you to separate yourself from the Bush administration before November 2, 2004, as a loud and clear message for the ages:

1. BUSH ADMINISTRATION POLICIES HAVE ESCALATED AND ARE DEEPENING ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION: Legislators, jurists and scientists throughout the world, who understand the immutable link between environmental health and human well-being, are appalled at the Bush administration's gutting of environmental protections.

In order to stifle democratic debate and the public understanding of administration policies, Bush's language specialists flip truthful language on its head. For example, there is now documented proof that "Blue Skies" and "Clean Water" initiatives of Bush, intentionally allow for more polluting. The Bush tactic is to first misname environmentally destructive policies in order to intentionally confuse the public. Corporate executives with a long history as polluters are now in charge of sensitive programs and the administration proceeds to gut any environmental protection that stands in the way of their greed. This policy of Orwellian doublespeak is a cynical and direct assault on the trust of all citizens who care about the future in which our children and we must live. Environmental destruction and climate change are no longer "speculation" or theory that must be argued between "different schools of thought." The scientific evidence across many disciplines has been conclusive for many years.

The scientifically proven central agents in global environmental degradation are fossil fuels burned for energy. However, it has been demonstrated in over thirty years of practical application that renewable organic fuels can easily replace fossil fuels. The habitat of indigenous people around the world, including coal mining regions of the US, are poisoned, stolen and their lives are ruined for an energy source that produces long term benefits only for its corporate owners. Coal and Big Oil enjoy countless trade and tax subsidies, diplomatic cartels and vast armies on the attack in Sudan, Chechnya, Nigeria, Burma, Indonesia, Iraq and elsewhere. However, a fraction of non-violent US government support would produce sustainable energy that is environmentally benign, grower-produced, biodegradable, market-responsive, cheaper, produces more and better jobs, and does not seduce America into either supporting dictators or attacking innocent populations.

The members of the Bush administration, beginning with Goerge W., Dick Cheney, Codileeza Rice, etc., are completely invested in oil, nuclear and other technologically obsolete petrochemicals, as their source of personal wealth. They, therefore, in both their foreign war policy and domestic economic policy, have a serious conflict of interest with the economic and general health of this nation.

Will you step away from them on this issue for the sake of our children, grandchildren and the health of the world?

2. GEORGE W. BUSH, THE CENTRAL VOICE OF OUR NATION, HAS PERSONALLY SET HIMSELF AGAINST ENLIGHTENED SCIENCE: In virtually every policy area in which enlightened leaders govern on empirical fact and specific evidence, George W. Bush instead chooses to rely upon an embarrassingly primitive level of superstition and Neoconservative political doctrine. His denial of resources for stem cell research is merely one example of this in the scientific arena.

It is one thing for the public to observe occasional incompetence in any presidential administration, however, for a president to willfully institutionalize incompetence and ignorance is a stunning assault on our culture of knowledge, truth, and ethics:

The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) is prohibited from carrying out its most basic responsibility of negotiating drug prices on behalf of the American taxpayer and consumer. Thusly, the FDA is no longer a player in an open and ethical "market" for pharmaceutical drugs, instead, the FDA has been consigned to be the victim of whatever pricing decisions the drug companies feel will best benefit their profit objectives.
As of April 2001, Mr. Bush claimed that the enormous scientific potential of stem cell research was to no longer have the support of the US Federal Government. Mr. Bush and his Neoconservative patrons, of course, claim that denial of federal funds has no deleterious effect on such research. However, you and I know that most Americans do not fully appreciate the critical role that federal funding plays in basic technological research. The social progress and general well being of all humanity has been integrally tied to the basic research underwritten by the US government since the late 19th Century. Without federal infusion, basic medical research does not get done on behalf of all our citizens.
The Beaureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms (ATF) has been prohibited by the Bush administration from either researching or publishing the effects of assault weapon on American society.

As the legal -ban on assault weapons is due to expire this month, the NRA, in concert with the Bush administration, wants to suppress all data that would spur a proper public debate on this vital issue. Assault weapons have no purpose other than instantaneous murder and massive destruction. The suppression of essential data on them has the most direct effect on urban black, poor white and various ethnic communities that are not protected against the proliferation of illegal assault weapons.
The Union of Concerned Scientists, whose members include many Nobel Laureates, has documented the administration's refusal to respect scientific evidence when such evidence contradicts its doctrines of political Neoconservatism and Christian Fundamentalism.

The example that George W. Bush sets for American youth is that our president can arbitrarily ignore the sanctity of facts and the truth that is the direct consequence of those facts. This is the traditional attitude of dictators in backward "banana republics." From his one-dimensional "war on terror" and its, obviously, fabricated connection to Iraq, to health care, social policy and science, our nation and the world observe Mr. Bush making the vital decisions of this great culture from abysmal ignorance and with prejudice.

Over our 228-year history, the unparalleled progress of American culture is the triumph of empirical facts over superstition, religious and racial bigotry. Mr. Bush's denial of the primacy of scientific evidence has already compromised vital global progress that had begun prior to his presidency on matters of climate change, medical research, family planning in the most impoverished nations, protection of endangered animal and plant species on land and oceans, and many other matters.

3. GEORGE W. BUSH, THE CENTRAL VOICE OF OUR NATION, HAS PERSONALLY SET HIMSELF AGAINST SOCIAL PROGRESS: In June of 2001, the International Herald Tribune, (publ: Washington Post + NY Times) reported that the Bush administration was working in concert with fundamentalist Islamic groups around the world to suppress women's rights, as a method for also rolling back international abortion rights. Despite 9-11-01, there is every indication that the American Christian Right and various Islamic fundamentalists still coordinate to block women's access to comprehensive health care, because unconditional healthcare that is controlled by women, rightfully, includes family planning and abortion.

Social progress, or, a society's ability to evolve and change, is a defining virtue of American society. Only a few generations ago you and I could be captured in Wyoming by forbears of Dick Cheney and sold down to Georgia as possessions of Zell Miller's forbears. However, the supreme virtue of America is that our black and white social progressives have fought, pushed and legislated a society in which you, properly, are more respected than both of them.

As a throwback to our dark past where bigotry and social discrimination reigned, Mr. Bush embraces of the anti-homosexual bigotry of the Religious Right. This is the worst example of sociopathic bias by any president since before the Civil Rights era of 1965. If Mr. Bush's ideology is intertwined with bigotry against vulnerable classes of citizens, then his presentation of you and other African-Americans in positions of authority is hollow and token imagery, despite your singular talent and experience. As Mr. Bush and the Religious Right pander their particular brand of softcore hatred, they are a direct affront to the human rights movement that is the larger context for all our Civil Rights.

Mr. Bush shows little genuine compassion for those who have nothing to offer him. His unacceptible soft core hatred is a direct insult to you, me, all vulnerable Americans and is a compelling reaon for your resignation.

4. Iraq: AS YOU KNOW BETTER THAN MOST, IF THE US WERE TO, UNCONDITIONALLY, RETURN CONTROL OF IRAQI OIL TO THE IRAQI PEOPLE, THEIR RESENTMENT AND SUPPORT FOR THE INSURGENCY WOULD BE GREATLY REDUCED. The Iraqi people are not angry about the absence of Saddam Hussein. However, they did not ask for or expect to pay for his removal with their well being, their lives and end up with a society in which the average person is worse off than under Saddam. Bush stood in front of the world, defied the legalities of a UN Security Council vote and confidently promised the opposite. Iraq is now too dangerous for democratic processes to take hold and there is a growing consensus around the world that civil war is more likely than not. Mr. Bush chose to ignore all the Middle East scholars and experts both in his own nation and at the United Nations who predicted all of this.

As Mr. Bush's reasons for the War continue to slide and shift, his latest is that "we attract terrorists into Iraq so that they don't come here." Yet, the only truth to that proposition is that the Bush "policy" has singularly created devastating violence throughout Iraq and is still today destroying the lives of a massive number of Iraqi citizens. More American soldiers were wounded and maimed in August 2004 than any other month of this War. The past few weeks, through the date of this letter, has seen the highest number of American and Iraqi casualties since April-May, the highest months. America had no moral, legal or military necessity to do this. Bush's proposition that Iraqis deserve and can absorb whatever level of violence that he decides to "attract into Iraq," is outrageous and racist IMPERIALISM.

Reasonable people must ignore 20th Century history and suspend logic and common sense to follow the bizarre calculus and empty justifications of George W. Bush & Co. There is no logic or evidence that terrorists who are nurtured in Iraq -- an Iraq, that is deconstructing clearly because of George Bush -- will not travel to the source of their hatred: the United States. The Bush calculus is absurd.

At present, the overwhelming reason for the general Iraqi rage against America are the racist sacrificing of Iraqi lives and the Bush administration's no-bid, secretive oil contracts that are impoverishing the Iraqi people. You know that George Bush and Cheney are not about to relinquish their unspoken objective and prize of the War. Whether Bush wins or loses on November 2, he, Cheney and their patrons will keep the oil of the Iraqi people. So far, they have been successful at keeping the American media from questioning this central and obvious issue.

You certainly know that Iraq has not since 1991 had an air force, a navy, nor any other means to deliver the alleged, and never proven, Weapons of Mass Destruction that were the first and unequivocal reason for the US prosecuted attack on that sovereign nation. No evidence of a credibleIraqi air, naval or ground attack force was ever displayed over the eleven years that the US and Britain attacked Iraq's "No Fly Zone" and infrastructure between 1992 and 2003. Many Iraqis died from these attacks. You certainly must also know that the UNSCOM Report of December 1998 never claimed such WMD, nor did the UNMOVIC Report of 2002-3, nor has Jane's Defense Publications (UK) -- the world's number one private source of military troop and arms research data. In Sept 2002 the publishers of Jane's adamantly denied that Iraq possessed a WMD capability and published their opposition to any so-called "pre-emptive war." You as a former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs are much more aware of the unsupportable case for the War on Iraq.

Need I mention the rape and sexual assault of 25% of our female soldiers by their fellow Americans, or Abu Graive and other gross violations of our values and legal requirements? This war has badly undermined our international credibility and forces those who support it to abandon American values of decency and legality. Whether or not it is "popular" in 2004, you have enough wisdom to know what the consequences will surely be, as it is already eating at the soul of our society.

Why don't you leave Bush-Cheney and make a statement of support for the 1,000 soldiers and thousands more Iraqis that have died for no discernable reason other than to replace the Iraqi Baathist Party with the US Republican Party.

5. Israel: AS LONG AS ISRAEL WILLINGLY ACCEPTS HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS FROM EVERY AMERICAN TAXPAYER, $26 FOR EACH AND EVERY AMERICAN MAN, WOMAN AND CHILD, EVERY YEAR, AND AS LONG AS AMERICAN TAXPAYERS PAY FOR THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT, IT IS A FICTION THAT "ISRAEL IS A COMPLETELY SOVEREIGN NATION OVER WHICH AMERICA HAS NO INFLUENCE." Those who know that the Sharonist's best opportunity to take land from Palestinians is through the continuing chaos, violence and its atrocious wall maintain this fiction for the unquestioning public. As a general officer, you certainly know that a general atmosphere of violence, fear and chaos obtains more for one of the world's premier military regimes, than would open, just and fair negotiations in front of the community of nations.

The Bush administration's abandonment of America's direct responsibility to enforce a peace process has left innocent Israelis and Palestinians to a brutal cycle of illegal bulldozing-property-confiscation, revenge, occupation and terror. Bush administration unconditional support of Sharon's particular brand of oppression, illegal imprisonments and land thievery is a further reason for global resentment of our nation; this, as much as any particular source of outrage, makes innocent American citizens vulnerable to "retaliatory" violence from unpredictable sources.

In March of 2002 you were in Israel and obviously prepared to discuss the removal of Israel from its illegal incursion into Gaza. You were clearly preparing to bring the parties together in a just and equitable manner. George Bush very publicly pulled you out bereft of any commitment to an authentic peace process. Nor did he discourage that first and most brutal Israeli incursion. Israel's land thefts, targeting of all moderate Palestinian and repression of its own peace elements, are but a few of the statistically proven reasons for random violence against Israelis.

Merely two weeks after an Israeli settler in 1995 murdered Prime Minster Yitzhak Rabin, the visionary architect of the Oslo Peace Plan, Ariel Sharon wrote an article in the Jerusalem Post (Nov.95) expressing his relief that "now the Oslo Plan can be overturned." The Road Map (2002) was largely created in Arab capitols but needed vigorous US follow-up and management. If not dead, it is now dormant. You are well aware of the comprehensive, yet pro forma, "Geneva Accord" that was signed last year by Israelis and Palestinians. It can go nowhere without US support. Competent, sincere and comprehensive US support of either the Road Map or Geneva Accords could have long ago effectively ended the carnage and restored the Oslo Peace dream for which Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in 1995.

Today, the situation for people of conscience in Israel and Palestine is more desperate than at any time since 1948. President Clinton was not able to complete his cycle of negotiations with Barak and Arafat in September 2000. Into the void marched Ariel Sharon as he stormed the Temple Mount with his troopers. This four year Intefada is a vast nightmare of Sharonist proportions. The missing element in Mid East peace since 2000 has been a capable and engaged president of the United States. We as Americans pay dearly with our taxes for our voice in Israeli foreign affairs; George Bush has not protected our financial interest nor enforced our moral voice in this disaster.

Please leave and loudly endorse the negotiations that you know would finally end the chaos of that entire region and the central role that Israel-Palestine plays in fomenting hatred of Americans.

6. SUDAN: After many months of critical delay, this week you have finally declared the extermination of black Sudanese GENOCIDE. For many months EVERY RELIABLE AND NON-BIASED TRANSNATIONAL SOURCE HAS BEEN STATING UNEQUIVOCALLY THAT THE GOVERNMENT OF SUDAN HAS BEEN SPONSORING AND WORKING IN CLOSE COORDINATION WITH THE JANJAWEED MILITIAS FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS EXTERMINATION. THE JANJAWEED ARE COMMONLY KNOWN IN THAT REGION AS THE "ARAB KLU KLUX KLAN."

For hundreds of thousands it is already too late. For us, as the so-called "super-power," to define this genocide, now requires us to lead a meaningful international response. However, even for this authentic human rights crisis, the Sudanese genocide, the Bush administration has no international capital left upon which he could possibly summon a new "coalition of the willing," cause worthy or not. I have no doubt about your sincerity based upon your long diplomatic and public record. However, to assume that human rights is a motivating factor in the decision making of Mr. Bush, is not assumable or discernable from any part of his life history. I would believe that the "genocide" declaration of today is after a long and difficult struggle on your part.

The long unchecked Sudanese genocide is one more revelation of the emptiness of Mr. Bush's "compassionate" preachments. It further, yet, reveals the lie behind the "humanitarian" argument for the War on Iraq. The Sudanese government is at least as vicious as Saddam Hussein had ever been. Yet, will you have the authority, budget and troops to lead the Security Council in enforcing the well being and safety of the Sudanese?

Despite a lot of rhetoric and a superficial touchdown in Africa, Mr. Bush has yet to fully fund his promises on AIDS and other initiatives on Africa. Big public promises while covertly withholding all money to render them anything but EMPTY, is the consistent pattern of Mr. Bush.

Please resign and express your disgust with the African hair that is still being split by your boss.

7. THE UNITED NATIONS, WITH ITS VIRTUES AND VICES, WAS DESIGNED BY THE WORLD'S TOP DIPLOMATS AND SCHOLARS AND PAID DIRECT HOMAGE TO THE WWII ALLIANCE THAT WAS LEAD BY THE UNITED STATES UNDER FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT. THE UN IS AN EVOLUTIONARY, VISIONARY AND RATIONAL RESPONSE TO THE DISASTERS, DEATH, WASTE AND DESTRUCTION THAT ARE INEVITABLE WITH NO GLOBAL SYSTEM OF INTERDEPENDENCE. Humanity's best thinkers were courageous enough to codify into the United Nations our species' most compelling lessons on statecraft, diplomacy, healthcare, children's rights, racism, women's' rights, genocide, ecology, and jurisprudence. Amongst these designers was the great African-American internationalist, Ralph Bunch. You know that if our species is to survive, the UN is a precious institution, the shrill anti-UN jingoism of American Neoconservatives, notwithstanding.

Since mid 2002 the time and resources of the United Nations have been inordinately consumed by the crisis artificially created by the Bush administration in Iraq. Important and valuable UN officials, peacemakers and highly skilled diplomats have now been killed in the Iraq of George W. Bush. Any UN official will attest to the waste and fraud behind the entire Iraqi episode. The US was not at risk from Iraq. However, the peoples of the world who are truly at risk, such as in Sudan, Burma, Chechnya, etc. cannot obtain the life-sustaining support they urgently require from the Security Council. By lying about weapons of mass destruction, and retroactively manufacturing a "human rights crisis" as a reason for the War on Iraq, the US has helped poison the atmosphere for appropriate military intervention where authentic holocausts are actually occurring. Most importantly, as the world's only "super-power" is lead by a man who over a four year term has never once displayed an understanding of treaties or a personal capacity for negotiating with friend or foe, it likewise follows that the military personnel and assets of that power are unavailable for the honorable service of authentic peace-keeping. The United Nations will never receive its proper military or moral support as long as we, the Super-Power, are lead by a person who is distinguished by his parochialism, unilateralism, superstition and mediocrity.

Please resign and explain to the American people why we all have a vital and immediate stake in global instutions, international cooperation, treaties and diplomacy.

These are but a few reasons for you to leave the Bush administration before the election of November 2, 2004. A vast majority of the American people would immediately agree with you and see through the incompetence, mediocrity, bigotry and longer term hazard that George W. Bush presents for our great nation. Your courage at this moment may be the last and best hope for the future of the United States of America. Please consider it now.

Very truly yours, Kenneth M. Washington, Board Member, Indinapolis Peace & Justice Center