This last week or so I have been getting more and more pissed. The ongoing, perhaps increasing, exploitation of 9/11 by the Republicans has finally brought me to the absolute boiling point. I am OUTRAGED at the Republican hypocricy and failure. I wrote a diary on this earlier, but of course Bush’s speech just makes it all worse. See below for my letter to the editor on Bush’s speech and my suggestions for how we all can react to Bush’s speech.
First, my letter:
Tonight, yet again, I heard George Bush try to link his war in Iraq with the terrorist attacks on the United States. I am sick and tired of conservatives constantly exploiting the attacks on NYC for their own political gain! The war in Iraq never had anything to do with the 9/11 attacks. As I recall it was bin Laden and al Qaeda who were responsible for the 9/11 attacks and Bush has failed to stop them. Why is he sending troops to Iraq when it was al Qaeda that attacked us? In my book since he failed to prevent 9/11 and has failed to capture bin Laden, Bush has failed those who died on 9/11 and he, Karl Rove and other Republicans should stop using 9/11 for their own political agenda.
But it is worse than that. Republicans talk about the 9/11 attacks all the time, but what is their attitude towards NYC, the city that was worst hit? They denigrate NYC all the time! Governor Pataki refuses to give us the funds for transit and education that we are entitled to. Mayor Bloomberg doesn’t stand up for NYC when people like Karl Rove exploit the memories of our 9/11 dead for his political agenda. President Bush never gave us all of the funds he promised us for rebuilding after 9/11. And they constantly denigrate liberals, Democrats and progressives, which pretty much means most New Yorkers.
So stop talking to me about Iraq, Mr. Bush. I am a New Yorker and my concern is with the people who actually attacked America, not the weird vendetta you have against Iraq. You failed to protect America in the first place and you have failed for four years to capture bin Laden. In my mind you are a failure and I deeply resent your using the memory of the 9/11 dead to try and cover up your failures.
Now, my suggested actions. If we can do these actions en masse, BELIEVE me, it will make a big difference.
In response to Bush’s speech and the Republican’s continued exploitation of 9/11, I ask you to please consider taking some of the following actions.
- Write letters to the editor. This is CRITICAL. Sound off on this now!
- Write to your Congress Critters and, if you live in NY, to mayor Bloomberg and Gov. Pataki and tell them to demand that Bush apologize to NYC for continuing to link Iraq with the 9/11 attacks even though Iraq and al Qaeda were not linked. Tell them that as long as bin Laden is still loose, Bush’s vendetta in Iraq is the wrong war at the wrong time.
- Donate to MoveOn.org, one of the strongest opponents of Bush’s Iraq agenda.
- Consider donating to one or more of the Top Ten 2006 Congressional races where Republicans are most vulnerable (a very well thought out Act Blue List that hasn’t gotten much attention yet). This is a way to prime the pump for what are likely to be the hottest 2006 House races.
- Donate to one or more candidate on Democracy for America’s A-list : good, progressive candidates running for local offices in 2005. These are the leaders of the future who we should nurture now.
Please do what you can. It is your personal response to the President who has failed America in so many ways.
