[amc] POLITICAL (A vet's letter to Bush)
- From: wseverin1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Werner J. Severin)
- To: amc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 12 Mar 2006 20:11:15 -0500
Note:
This former Navy pilot says, "And I am a disciplined pacifist, so any
violent act is out of the question"
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031106A.shtml
Letter to President Bush
By Joseph W. DuRocher
Saturday 04 March 2006
Forwarded from Marni Harmony, the minister of a church in Orlando. Joe
is one of her parishioners.
President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. President:
As a young man I was honored to serve our nation as a commissioned
officer and helicopter pilot in the US Navy. Before me in WWII, my
father defended the country spending two years in the Pacific aboard the
USS Hornet (CV-14). We were patriots sworn "to protect and defend".
Today I conclude that you have dishonored our service and the
Constitution and principles of our oath. My dad was buried with full
military honors so I cannot act for him. But for myself, I return
enclosed the symbols of my years of service: the shoulder boards of my
rank and my Naval Aviator's wings.
Until your administration, I believed it was inconceivable that the
United States would ever initiate an aggressive and preemptive war
against a country that posed no threat to us. Until your administration,
I thought it was impossible for our nation to take hundreds of persons
into custody without provable charges of any kind, and to "disappear"
them into holes like Gitmo, Abu Ghraib and Bagram. Until your
administration, in my wildest legal fantasy I could not imagine a US
Attorney General seeking to justify torture or a President first stating
his intent to veto an anti-torture law, and then adding a "signing
statement" that he intends to ignore such law as he sees fit. I do not
want these things done in my name.
As a citizen, a patriot, a parent and grandparent, a lawyer and law
teacher I am left with such a feeling of loss and helplessness. I think
of myself as a good American and I ask myself what can I do when I see
the face of evil? Illegal and immoral war, torture and confinement for
life without trial have never been part of our Constitutional tradition.
But my vote has become meaningless because I live in a safe district
drawn by your political party. My congressman is unresponsive to my
concerns because his time is filled with lobbyists' largess. Protests
are limited to your "free speech zones", out of sight of the parade.
Even speaking openly is to risk being labeled un-American, pro-terrorist
or anti-troops. And I am a disciplined pacifist, so any violent act is
out of the question.
Nevertheless, to remain silent is to let you think I approve or support
your actions. I do not. So, I am saddened to give up my wings and bars.
They were hard won and my parents and wife were as proud as I was when I
earned them over forty years ago. But I hate the torture and death you
have caused more than I value their symbolism. Giving them up makes me
cry for my beloved country.
Joseph W. DuRocher
Werner J. Severin
3108 Silverleaf Drive
Austin, Tx. 78757-1611
(512) 452-5080
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Austin Mennonite Church, (512) 926-3121 www.mennochurch.org
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