Open Letter to President Bush

Dear Mr. President;

I don't think many people understand what you did but I want you to know that my family and I do and that we appreciate it more than I can say.

Most contemporary politicians would put their career before the fate of the nation. You knew, on September 11, 2001, that you could play it safe politically and no one would know. You knew the safe thing to do would be to continue the charade that had been going on for the past decade -- threatening Hussein and waiting for sanctions to work. You could have kept that up for another four years, concentrated on the economy and you probably would have been reelected.

You knew what a chance you were taking in going to war. You knew young men would die, possibly at the rate they did in WWII and other wars, thousands a day. You knew that war was unpredictable and that any plans for peace would probably go awry. You knew all that because that has been the experience of those who led our country into wars.

You knew your enemies would blame you and that our generation could not judge you fairly, but judge you we would. You knew you might lose the Presidency because you did what was best for the country. Your choice was to risk your career and fight for your country or to sit back and hope something would happen to change the minds of the enemy.

You chose the hard way; the path to freedom. We have suffered. Yes. And so have you. But suffering is one of the prices of freedom. We are bloodied but not bowed; we are proud and we are free. And an entire nation of oppressed peoples now can join us in celebrating their freedom.

Thank you, Mr. President, for having the courage to keep your vow to "protect and defend" us and to do so in spite of the risk to your own political aspirations. We who understand are grateful that we have had (and hope we will continue to have) a man of your convictions and your character to steer the ship of state through the turbulent waters of the past four years.

God Bless You, President Bush. We thank you for your Presidency.

Sunnye Tiedemann
Mother of an Air Force officer, mother-in-law to an Army Colonel and grandmother to a West Point Cadet