A Letter to My President

Dear Mr. President:

Sun Tzu in the Chapter on Offensive Strategy in his famous work "The Art of War," wrote:

29. He whose generals are able and not interfered with by the sovereign will be victorious.

To which I would add, the sovereign who has able generals and interferes with their conduct of a war will (9 times out of ten) produce only death, heartache and certain defeat.

Every major war that America has won, from the Civil War to the present, has had one characteristic aspect, our civilian government has wisely chosen an able commanding general, given him his strategic aim and then got the heck out of the way - - with very few if any restraints or constraints. In nearly every case where this principle has been violated disaster has been the result.

I am a solid conservative and an energetic Republican and have been a vigorous supporter of you and your administration. Still, I am not a Republican today because there is something either sacred or magic about belonging to this particular political party. I am a Republican today, because I believe that the Republicans offer the best hope of preserving our country, our union and our culture intact . I sometimes get called a "racist" by left-wing extemists for that "politically incorrect" statement. But, considering the source of that wholly erroneous accusation, if that is the price I must pay for telling the truth, I am willing to take the hit.

If the whole picture swung around such that the Democrats were upholding and doing the things the Republicans now stand for and are doing - and the Republicans stood for what the Demos now stand for, I would change horses in a moment. Rest easy, Mr. President, that will never happen so long as Democrats tolerate the domination of their party by far left extremists, as they do now.

All that said, I must say that I am ticked off at my President - not for going into the Middle East -- which was undeniably the right thing to do - - but for not learning and applying the lessons learned from Vietnam and going into Iraq full tilt and "kicking ass" totally and in short order and getting the heck out as fast and effectively as possible. Instead, Mr. President I fear that you are, once again as we did in Vietnam, trying to fight a politically correct war and (perhaps) protect your legacy. Mr. President, your legacy should be a swift and certain American victory with an absolute minimum of American lives lost - not how many people speak well or badly of you or of us. As you well know, this country wasn't built on popularity and wars are not won that way either.

I know that you, Mr. President, are not fighting this war for Oil or any other profit motive. However, I am beginning to get a little worried that you may be getting too much concerned with what the l eftists and left w ing- nut m edia will call you after you no longer have the "Bully Pulpit" from which to answer them and defend yourself and/or the way historians are going to remember you. I respect you and support you Mr. President. Your job is one of the most difficult jobs in the world and no man (or woman) can or could do it perfectly. All I ask is that, above all, you remember and stay mindfull that the lives of our young American men and women in uniform are just too damn high a price to pay for either, political correctness or anyone's legacy - even the legacy of The President of The United States.

As Admiral Farragut said, during a crucial battle in our War of Independence: "Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead." I say, listen to Sun Tzu and win this war by listening to the generals. God Bless you and your wonderful family. God Save America. Reverend Bhagavan Friend