A Powerful Letter from Veteran, activist, actor and writer April Fitzsimmons

Dear Citizens of America: As a veteran I strongly oppose any more involvement in Iraq's Civil War. I believe America should master diplomacy, negotiation, education, health care issues, civil rights, human rights, poverty, racial injustice and a mounting environmental crisis. Then, and only then might we have the right to "aid" another country in developing a democracy, if they invite us to do so. How did you learn tolerance? Was it with a man standing at your door in fatigues holding a rifle? How did your learn love? Was it by invading anothers home and ransacking their belongings? How did you learn democracy? Was it by a decree and a vote? No. It was by practice and example time and time again. Go to New Orleans. Examine the evidence of the dire need for America to turn to itself and heal what we have not healed. To repair what we have not repaired. To look at what we have been ignoring. We've killed over 300,000 Iraqi's, for what? We've killed over 3000 American soldiers and Marines, for what? For a better America? I think not. Imagine if the Saudi's had arrived at Bull's Run in Virginia in 1862 in the midst of America's Civil War. What could the Saudi's have told us about how to make peace between the north and the south? This is not our war to fight. We must lay down our guns and walk away. We must return to our senses. We must return to our home. This is not cut and run. This is not cowardice. This is the responsible action one takes when they realize they have made a grave error. If a man is molesting his daughter and suddenly comes to his senses and realizes the horror of his mistake, if he withdraws from the situation does this make him a coward? Do we say that he is cutting and running? No. We say that he took appropriate action based on the circumstances. Now if we are the neighbor who observes the molestation and we say nothing, are we innocent? Are we morally right? No. If we continue to fund this war with our silent agreement, with supplies and with good and able bodies, we are the neighbor who knows of the crime and does nothing. I am not equating the soldiers to molesters. It is those in power who are abusing and manufacturing intelligence to mislead the soldiers into believing that their mission is right and just. The Commander in Chief is responsible for the troops and he is responsible for the decisions he has made on his watch. To admit he was wrong at this stage would invalidate the 500,000 troops who have served in Iraq. That may be too much for one man to bear which is why Soldiers, Marines and Citizens alike must take charge of this situation and declare a withdrawal of all troops in Iraq. I beseech the American people, our congress and the senate to think with the most evolved part of their being and bring this crisis in Iraq and Afghanistan to an immediate end. Sincerely yours. April Fitzsimmons USAF Intelligence Analyst (1985-1989) www.madashellclub.net www.aprilfitzsimmons.com Contact your Representative at: www.congress.org ; - The system only works if you speak up! "This is what we did. How did it happen? How could we?" - Dorothea Lange