Senator Feinstein,

 

This is to specifically respond to your statement: "As a member of the Senate Intelligence committee, I have seen no intelligence that suggests that the threat from Iraq is imminent.   The United Nations has inspectors on the ground, and more are on the way.  For me, this means that Iraq is essentially contained.  War should be a last resort, and I do not think we are at that last resort at this time."

 

First, I want to say that of course war should be a last resort. No reasonable person with a conscience wants war. My generation was deeply affected by the horrors of the war in Vietnam; my husband and many of our friends and relatives are Vietnam veterans, and we all can trace names on the Vietnam Memorial of people we knew and loved. My brother was with the USMC in Korea during the conflict there. My uncle came home safely after being involved in heavy combat in Europe during World War II, but my family suffered many losses as a result of that war. My nephews and cousins served in the first Gulf War and in Kosovo.  Now I have younger nieces and nephews and cousins in all branches of the military who are in the process of being deployed to the Middle East in anticipation of Gulf War II. We are well aware of the horrors of war and what it means to send our young ones into harm's way.

 

We may not be as vocal as some of the celebrities who have gone to Iraq to consort with the enemy and then are given air time to spout their naive comments, but we're not stupid. We watch and listen and weigh everything we see and hear of global events on the scale of experience and history. We do not wish to repeat the mistakes of the past.

 

Before I go any further, I have a question for you, Senator Feinstein: As a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, are you privy to all intelligence that comes into the White House, or is there a possibility that the president has actual intelligence documents confirming that the threat from Iraq is indeed imminent?

 

The supposition that Iraq (personified by Saddam Hussein) is contained merely by the fact that UN weapons inspectors are there seems to negate the evidence of recent history, is not logical, and is just not good common sense. I have always had a great deal of respect for you, Senator Feinstein, and I was stunned by the incredulity of this statement. Even the most ignorant of us old geezers sitting around the cracker barrel is able to understand how easy it is for a master of deception such as Saddam Hussein, a total despot, feared by even his own family, with all the resources of an oil-rich country twice the size of Idaho with over 24 million people and a 3-million-man army, to manipulate his resources and dance around a few hundred inspectors who are observing rules and restrictions that do not bind him. He has had many years to weave his web. The UN's attempts at inspection seem ludicrous to most of us. Saddam Hussein appears to relish the game of hiding his resources. He is balking at U-2 over flights because he knows they represent his most serious threat of exposure. To him, the UNMOVIC team are just a swarm of flies to be batted away.

 

Another issue that my family and friends and I seem to grasp, unlike many of those who have been interviewed by the media, is that a terrorist group such as Al Qaeda will use ANY MEANS to accomplish its fanatic goals, even if it means temporarily associating with people who are not of their faith and doing things that are not in strict accordance with its tenets, because they feel these are justified to them in their jihad. We can think of nothing that would prevent these terrorists from availing themselves of Saddam Hussein's assistance in achieving a goal of striking at a hated enemy. Any victory achieved by Al Qaeda or other such groups against the US or Israel is also a victory for Saddam Hussein.

 

It is not logical, however, for Al Qaeda or other Muslim extremist groups to assist Saddam Hussein in attaining nuclear capability because he would then be likely to use such weapons against other countries in the region. He is a rattlesnake, and they know it, so they will not set him loose to strike indiscriminately on other Muslim nations, yet they can use his venom in ways that suit their interests. This may be one reason why Saddam Hussein does not yet have nuclear capability. Yet it is only a matter of time before he is able to obtain what he needs on the black market or from nations such as North Korea who are not concerned about what he does in the Middle East.

 

Saddam Hussein fancies himself another Suleiman the Magnificent, but he most resembles Stalin in his brutality, lust for power, and psychoses.

 

We hear people from all over the world objecting to the US unilaterally attacking a country for no reason other than that we feel they may represent a threat. Apparently, if a lie is repeated often enough it will be believed - a favorite tactic, incidentally, of the Iraqis. It is particularly disturbing and disappointing to see American citizens criticizing our own country in this war of words.

 

The truth is that Iraq attacked Kuwait in a war of aggression to seize oil assets and gain greater unrestricted access to the Persian Gulf. The UN sent a coalition of forces to expel them from Kuwait. A cease-fire agreement was made between the parties to end hostilities and allow Saddam Hussein's regime to remain in place on certain conditions. These conditions have been  violated over and over again over the past 12 years. The UN has not enforced compliance, enabling Saddam Hussein to become increasingly more dangerous. Because he violated the terms of the cease-fire, a condition of war still exists! It is not a new war. (And it no more resembles the situation in Vietnam than a giraffe resembles a zebra, although some of the peace protestors seem to be trying to capture that same aura of righteous dissent, which has been worn like a badge of honor in the aftermath of our ignominious withdrawal from Vietnam.)

 

My family and friends and I feel that the threat from Saddam Hussein is crystal clear and imminent. We urge that you, and other members of congress who do not presently recognize the danger, step back and reexamine this situation in the light of history, without regard to partisan politics. To repeat, 1) Iraq is still in a state of war with the UN coalition nations, based on its continued violation of the terms of the cease-fire; Saddam Hussein has made public his burning hatred for the US and for Israel, his utter disregard for life, and his willingness to use any weapons on anyone at any time in his desire for power. His continued war preparations and weapons development have been made clear without the so-called "smoking gun" that everyone seems to want. 2) Saddam Hussein is a weapon at the ready for any terrorist organization bent on killing Americans; there is no logical reason he would withhold such assistance and no logical reason to believe the terrorist groups would not avail themselves of it. 3) Weapons inspections have not contained Saddam Hussein. He can easily outmaneuver them and seems to enjoy doing it. Sanctions have helped slow him down but have not stopped him. US patrols over established no-fly zones have helped contain him to a certain extent but have not damaged his chemical and biological weapons programs. These are apparent and obvious, even without the specific intelligence information that a world wearing blinders seems to want.

 

If we do not go to war against Saddam Hussein's Iraq now, he will strike at us and probably at Israel in a most deadly way, and we will go to war then. Do we stop him now (with justification based on violation of the cease-fire and demonstrated threat to the welfare of US citizens) or wait until many thousands more civilians have suffered and died as a result of attack by biological and chemical weapons Iraq has developed and successfully tested on animals and people. The war on terrorism is also a war against terrorist regimes, such as the current Iraqi regime (Saddam Hussein and his family of thugs).

 

Our only hope of avoiding war, which is otherwise inevitable regardless of who strikes first, is for the current Iraqi regime (not just Saddam Hussein) to be ousted or to go into exile. Our best weapon in future against those in the Middle East who hate us simply because we're Americans is to lose our dependence on fossil fuels. The program President Bush proposed in his State of the Union address to develop hydrogen fuel is very promising and deserves our concentrated efforts, support, and funding.

 

Again, although the people for whom I am writing do not get air time, none of us has ever been polled, and most of us are too busy with our jobs and our families to take time to write, there are many, many, many of us who feel this way. Please take heed.

 

Very sincerely yours,

 

Syl B
God Bless the USA!