Wednesday, September 22nd, 2004 | michaelmoore.com
9/22/04
Dear Mr. Bush,
I am so confused. Where exactly do you stand on the issue of Iraq?
You, your Dad, Rummy, Condi, Colin, and Wolfie — you have all changed
your minds so many times, I am out of breath just trying to keep up
with you!
Which of these 10 positions that you, your family and your cabinet have taken over the years represents your CURRENT thinking:
1983-88: WE LOVE SADDAM. On December 19, 1983, Donald Rumsfeld was
sent by your dad and Mr. Reagan to go and have a friendly meeting with
Saddam Hussein, the dictator of Iraq. Rummy looked so happy in the picture.
Just twelve days after this visit, Saddam gassed thousands of Iranian
troops. Your dad and Rummy seemed pretty happy with the results because
?The Donald R.? went back to have another chummy hang-out with Saddam?s right-hand man, Tariq Aziz, just four months later. All of this resulted in the U.S. providing credits and loans to Iraq that enabled Saddam
to buy billions of dollars worth of weapons and chemical agents. The
Washington Post reported that your dad and Reagan let it be known to
their Arab allies that the Reagan/Bush administration wanted Iraq to win its war with Iran and anyone who helped Saddam accomplish this was a friend of ours.
1990: WE HATE SADDAM. In 1990, when Saddam invaded Kuwait, your dad and his defense secretary, Dick Cheney, decided they didn’t like Saddam anymore so they attacked Iraq and returned Kuwait to its rightful dictators.
1991: WE WANT SADDAM TO LIVE. After the war, your dad and Cheney and
Colin Powell told the Shiites to rise up against Saddam and we would
support them. So they rose up. But then we changed our minds. When the
Shiites rose up against Saddam, the Bush inner circle changed its mind
and decided NOT to help the Shiites. Thus, they were massacred by
Saddam.
1998: WE WANT SADDAM TO DIE. In 1998, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and
others, as part of the Project for the New American Century, wrote an open letter to President Clinton insisting he invade and topple Saddam Hussein.
2000: WE DON’T BELIEVE IN WAR AND NATION BUILDING. Just three years
later, during your debate with Al Gore in the 2000 election, when asked
by the moderator Jim Lehrer where you stood when it came to using force
for regime change, you turned out to be a downright pacifist:
?I–I would take the use of force very seriously.
I would be guarded in my approach. I don’t think we can be all things
to all people in the world. I think we’ve got to be very careful when
we commit our troops. The vice president [Al Gore] and I have a
disagreement about the use of troops. He believes in nation building.
I–I would be very careful about using our troops as nation builders. I
believe the role of the military is to fight and win war and,
therefore, prevent war from happening in the first place. And so I take
my–I take my–my responsibility seriously.? –October 3, 2000
2001 (early): WE DON’T BELIEVE SADDAM IS A THREAT. When you took
office in 2001, you sent your Secretary of State, Colin Powell, and
your National Security Advisor, Condoleezza Rice, in front of the
cameras to assure the American people they need not worry about Saddam
Hussein. Here is what they said:
Powell: ?We should constantly be reviewing our
policies, constantly be looking at those sanctions to make sure that
they have directed that purpose. That purpose is every bit as important
now as it was 10 years ago when we began it. And frankly, they have
worked. He has not developed any significant capability with respect to
weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power
against his neighbors.? –February 24, 2001
Rice: ?But in terms of Saddam Hussein being
there, let’s remember that his country is divided, in effect. He does
not control the northern part of his country. We are able to keep arms
from him. His military forces have not been rebuilt.? –July 29, 2001
2001 (late): WE BELIEVE SADDAM IS GOING TO KILL US! Just a few
months later, in the hours and days after the 9/11 tragedy, you had no
interest in going after Osama bin Laden. You wanted only to bomb Iraq and kill Saddam
and you then told all of America we were under imminent threat because
weapons of mass destruction were coming our way. You led the American
people to believe that Saddam had something to do with Osama and 9/11.
Without the UN’s sanction, you broke international law and invaded Iraq.
2003: WE DON?T BELIEVE SADDAM IS GOING TO KILL US. After no WMDs
were found, you changed your mind about why you said we needed to
invade, coming up with a brand new after-the-fact reason — we started
this war so we could have regime change, liberate Iraq and give the
Iraqis democracy!
2003: ?MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!? Yes, everyone saw you say it — in costume, no less!
2004: OOPS. MISSION NOT ACCOMPLISHED! Now you call the Iraq invasion a “catastrophic success.”
That’s what you called it this month. Over a thousand U.S. soldiers
have died, Iraq is in a state of total chaos where no one is safe, and
you have no clue how to get us out of there.
Mr. Bush, please tell us — when will you change your mind again?
I know you hate the words “flip” and “flop,” so I won’t use them
both on you. In fact, I’ll use just one: Flop. That is what you are. A
huge, colossal flop. The war is a flop, your advisors and the
“intelligence” they gave you is a flop, and now we are all a flop to
the rest of the world. Flop. Flop. Flop.
And you have the audacity to criticize John Kerry with what you call
the “many positions” he has taken on Iraq. By my count, he has taken
only one: He believed you. That was his position. You told him and the
rest of congress that Saddam had WMDs. So he — and the vast majority
of Americans, even those who didn’t vote for you — believed you. You
see, Americans, like John Kerry, want to live in a country where they
can believe their president.
That was the one, single position John Kerry took. He didn’t support
the war, he supported YOU. And YOU let him and this great country down.
And that is why tens of millions can’t wait to get to the polls on
Election Day — to remove a major, catastrophic flop from our dear,
beloved White House — to stop all the flipping you and your men have
done, flipping us and the rest of the world off.
We can’t take another minute of it.
Yours,
Michael Moore
mmflint@aol.com
www.michaelmoore.com
