Senator Tom Coburn and Me on Iraq

I was recently forwarded this canned letter from Tom Coburn,
United States Senator. Below it is my response:

Thank you for your letter regarding the War in Iraq. I appreciate your
input.
First, I am extremely proud of our men and women in uniform. Our
military has performed bravely in the most difficult of circumstances and
they have done a superb job. They and their families deserve our thanks and admiration for all they have sacrificed in service of our country.
I have visited Iraq, and I continue to monitor the situation closely.
It is vitally important for us, when considering Iraq and the War on
Terror, to remember who we are fighting and what is at stake. We have
an obligation to future generations of Americans that we achieve victory
in the War on Terror. The terrorists we are confronting today in Iraq,
Afghanistan and elsewhere would be on our doorstep if we retreat. It is
better to confront and disrupt terrorists who would do us harm in their
own lairs in far away lands rather than allowing them to once again
launch attacks on us in our own cities.

Overall, the debate over troop levels in Iraq is not what matters - victory
is what matters. I believe now is the time for us to look within ourselves
and ask "Do we want to win?" If our goal is simply to get our troops
home and not to win the war, then we should bring them home today, not
over along period of time. We will be doing our troops a great dishonor
if our objective is to leave Iraq yet we leave them in harm's way. Let's
bring them home today if we do not intend to defeat this evil.

If we are committed to making the world safe from terrorism in the future,
then packing up and leaving Iraq because we are unsatisfied today with
our progress would be an unwise move. Al-Qaeda and other radical
Islamic terrorists in Iraq will certainly seek to seize control of all or parts
of Iraq at the first sign of American retreat. This would allow al-Qaeda to
re-establish a base of operations in Iraq to plot terrorist attacks, replace
their terrorist training camps we destroyed in Afghanistan and fund
their nefarious activities through one of the world's largest oil supplies.

We all mourn the loss of the more than 3,000 soldiers who have been
killed in Iraq. Each one of these is a brother, sister, father, son, mother,
sister, friend or neighbor who we will never see again. They gave their
life so we and our children can live a life free from fear of the next
terrorist attack.

We must recognize our troops have eliminated two evil regimes that
threatened international security. We cannot forget our soldiers have
killed or arrested approximately 55,000 terrorists and insurgents.

Almost every one of those 55,000 would have committed horrific acts of
terrorism against innocent Americans if they had been given the chance.
We must also understand what motivates our enemies to commit
terrorism. In their twisted worldview, there is no middle ground or
moderation. Their vision for the Middle East would move the region
farther and farther away from societal norms and into an even larger
confrontation with Western Civilization. These terrorists and their
ideology call for the absolute submission of individuals to a combined
church and state. They discourage artistic expression, punish
intellectual curiosity and deny people the right to pursue their entrepreneurial talents. All the while, they treat women as if they were property instead of people -prohibiting them from being educated and stoning them for not wearing veils. They throw hand grenades into churches and synagogues. They ban satellite dishes and
Internet service so their propaganda will go unchallenged. It is a
mindset that believes everyone should submit to their rule - that everyone
must believe as they do or be killed. It would have disastrous
implications for the United States, Israel and all of Western civilization
should we cede control of Iraq and yield to the brutal terrorists who cling
to this evil way of thinking.

Radical Islamic terrorists attacked us in 1979, 1983, 1993 (twice), 1996,
1998, 2000 and on September 11, 2001. Before 2001, we retreated after
each and every attack, thereby inviting our attackers to grow bolder.
Each subsequent attack was worse than the one before it, all leading up
to the September 11 attacks that killed 2,819 and harmed many more.

Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda, called the United States "a
paper tiger" and said "dealing with the pampered and effeminate
Americans will be easy."
Today, the followers of this ideology are fighting us furiously as we try to
rebuild Iraq, and we are on the verge of repeating the same mistake we made so many times before - retreating.

If we believe the violence we see on television is not part of an ongoing
strategy, then we are mistaken. Terrorists have learned from our past
retreats that Americans can be easily broken of our resolve to finish a
fight if it becomes drawn out. Terrorists believe we will give in if they
can make us weary of death and destruction. Of course, we all do not
wish to see this detestable type of behavior, which is why we must end it
by winning, not retreating.

Every American should remember bin Laden has said, "The most
important and serious issue today for the whole world is this Third
World War raging in[Iraq]." Also consider the words of Ayman
al-Zawahiri, bin Laden's top deputy, who said, "We must establish an
Islamic Authority over as much territory as [we] can to spread [our]
power in Iraq and extend the Jihad wave to the secular countries
neighboring Iraq."

The decisions we make about our role in Iraq and its future are being
watched closely. Iran, for example, has funneled weapons and money to
terrorists in Iraq, hoping a defeat for America is a victory for Iran and
their plan to acquire nuclear weapons. Keep in mind the haunting
words of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when he said, "We
will soon experience a world without the United States and Zionism .

Undoubtedly, I say that this slogan and goal is achievable, and with the
support and power of Allah, we will soon experience a world without the
United States and Zionism and will breathe in the brilliant time of
Islamic sovereignty over today's world." In January 2007, he also told his
supporters to "[be] assured that the United States and the Zionist regime
of Israel will soon come to the end of their lives."

We must remain mindful these individuals are determined to see our
annihilation, and that their blustering and threatening must be taken
seriously, not dismissed and pushed aside. It is clear leaving them alone
will not appease them, as they have attacked us repeatedly. We ignore
these threats at our own peril.

Mistakes were made after Saddam Hussein's regime was toppled and we
should re-examine our tactics in Iraq. But leaving Iraq will not stop the
attacks against America. We must keep in mind that Iraq is a central
front in the larger war on terror. We aren't simply fighting Iraqi militias
protesting an "American occupation," we are fighting terrorists from
across the globe who seek our defeat and ultimate destruction. They have
waged this war against us for more than 25 years. It is not the
democratically elected Iraqi government that seeks our withdrawal.

Rather, it is the terrorist insurgents who fight to prevent democracy from
gaining a foothold in the region. They hope the United States will flee
and abandon their mission,leaving them with the upper hand.

Our enemies are smart and patient. They know that while they cannot
defeat us outright, they can frustrate and outlast us.

As I stated earlier and I emphasize again, it is time for us to look within
ourselves and ask, "Do we want to win?" For the sake of our security
and our future, the answer must be an emphatic "yes."

Thank you again for your letter and for taking the time to share your
opinion on this most important issue. I appreciate your views, and I

hope that you can appreciate mine. Please keep in touch.

Sincerely, A
Tom Coburn
United States Senator
________________________________________________________________________________

My response;

Senator,
This was a canned response and is exactly the kind of oversimplification that is the very problem.
Nowhere do you even consider the reasons other than religious intolerance that have been stated by the terrorists themselves for their positions... Nowhere do you even begin to acknowledge the foreign policy mistakes and/or the reasons for the "blowback" of terrorist acts against us and our interests.

The people prosecuting this war would love for all of us to believe that te U.S. and other Western powers that have been targeted are nothing more than innocent bystanders and victims and that the attacks that have been made upon us simply sprang out of the irrational mind of religious zealots or else a historical vacuum. The U.S. has helped squelch nearly every effort to build secular governments in the Middle East because their allegiance to our government and thus our control of their resources would be questionable. There will never be a solution to any of these conflicts until we (the collective we of the U.S.) stop lying to ourselves and pretending that the people's of the Middle East are merely insane zealots and that none of their grievances are legit.

Of course much of what is asserted about radical Islam is true. Sure, there is an obvious connection with the conflicts to the radical Islamic view about those of us who they consider to be infidels. We are often encouraged by voices in our own society to listen and take seriously what radical Islam says on this. They are correct. However, we should also listen when they list the litany of grievances they have that have triggered these movements. I will dare to say that although I would never legitimize or condone killing innocent people with bombs (that goes for us too)- they do have some legitimate beefs with us. If we simply refuse to acknowledge or adjust those items then we cannot even begin to hope for reconciliation and peace.

Osama himself, when it was suggested to him that his group simply hated freedom and democracy and that is what motivated them, chuckled and said, "Go and ask your President why we didn't attack Sweden then."

Senator, I have also been following this conflict closely since the days of the Reagan administration. I am somewhat sure you are aware of some of the mistakes that were made back then- like arming and enabling Saddam (even supplying him with the gasses he used on the Kurds- a crime he was recently executed for- and then supplying him more more of these items even after we knew what he had done), having the CIA train the Mujahideen how to make car-bombs and such when we backed them against the Soviets etc., etc. I am also aware that the U.S. maintains a strong relationship with the unfree- est place on the planet, Saudi Arabia. If this is truly a clash of civilizations and Islam (Saudi is the most fundamentalist nation there is with the only possible exception the U.S.)- then why do we maintain such a hunky Dory relationship with Saudi? In Saudi Arabia, women cannot even go outdoors without male escorts, they cannot drive and they certainly cannot vote. In Saudi Arabia they still have public executions and so on. So, the whole thing about the religious intolerance of Islam being the main cause and focus of these conflicts is a little hollow.

Senator, I have also read the Iraq Study Group report and found it to be extremely insightful and helpful as well as very much on point with what I am saying here. I will make no bones about the fact that I am apalled and disgusted with the way the presiding administration and members of the Republican party disregarded and snubbed this important study. Sir, these failures will be what incites a holocaust.

Sir, do the math...there are over a billion Muslims in the world. There are at least 300 million who could be considered violent radicals. Can we really hope to convert or kill all of them through this myth of redemptive violence which tells us that if we just hit them hard enough we can solve the world's problems with military force? We have to do more than just engage in the never ending cycle of violence and revenge which is by now self sustaining. I strongly encourage you and your counterparts to re-visit the ISG report and reconsider the tact your are continuing on. I realize that the idea that we live in a representative democracy is pretty much another myth as demonstrated by the president's ignoring the will of the people, his advisors with views contrary to his own and much of the advice from the military itself- but if not for the rest of us- do it for your own family. Sir, I respect you- but, drop the partisan garbage and the party line towing and start thinking outside of the box on this.

sincerely, Scott Starr