What is Washboard Express?

Washboard Express is a way for me to express my own opinions, to be a provocative gadfly, by writing a "letter a day" to the President. I may miss a day here and there, because sometimes my family with be my first priority, but my goal is to write a total of 365 letters, representing one full year. To say I have opinions about most things would be to understate the obvious. Those of you that know me, know this is true, those who don't know me, will learn that it's true. The Washboard is a reference to going back to basics and "keeping it clean," so if you would like me to post your comments or opinions on this blog, I only ask that you be respectful. So go ahead, express yourself, and I look forward to an exchange of ideas and opinions.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Day 89...Dear Mr. President... On the eve of Sept. 11th... what have we gained?


Day 89

Dear Mr. President,

On the eve of September 11th I can’t help but think of not only the horrific loss of lives on that day, but the loss of our security and the belief that we were safe in our own country. Wars and violence and terrorism happened to other people in other places around the world, not to our people and not in our country.

We were wrong…

In the ten years since that awful day we have suffered even more devastating losses… Over 6000 American soldiers have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. Devastating because these wars were unwarranted, and the cost in lives lost, family devastation, and human suffering is incalculable, and yet we are still fighting and still killing and still sacrificing our young and women.

Our rush to war was wrong…

Over 300,000 men and women suffer from PTSD related to those wars, and an estimated 320,000 Vets have brain injuries. Tens of thousands more have lost one or more limbs, and worse yet, over 6000 U.S. war veterans commit suicide every year, that’s 18 every single day.

And while you urge each of us to remember the innocent victims of September 11th, I urge you and everyone else, to remember the innocent lives that have been sacrificed since then, and the lives of the families that have lost loved ones in two unfunded, unnecessary and unjustified wars.

It is wrong…

Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom/Afghanistan both sound noble, but what freedoms, and whose freedom has actually been secured? Americans are a lot less free… we still have warrantless wiretapping, ridiculous airport security procedures involving shoes and underwear, the rise of anti-Muslim hate crimes, and the loss of innumerable civil liberties that were part of our democracy.

The Iraqi’s and Afghani’s just want freedom from America’s interference in their country… and freedom from our bombs and our weapons of mass destruction.

I ask you Mr. President, on the eve of 9/11… Has the loss of lives, the human suffering, the sacrifices, the destruction of our economy, the world economy, our freedoms, the security of our country and around the world, been worth the price we paid and continue to pay each and every day?

Let’s honor those innocent victims of 9/11 by turning these wrongs into rights, and bring our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, and our sons and daughters home.

Most Respectfully,

Marcia Reimers, 
Your Gadfly Granny

2 comments:

  1. This is exactly what I have been trying to express in a friendly debate over the past few days. The other person is all for the TSA screenings, etc., so we can be "safe." I am emphatically trying to tell her that, no, we are NOT more safe, and, yes, we ARE less free. Thank you for this!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you Nightowl... I get so tired of the nonsense about keeping us free, and 'fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them here'... can you imagine the military from any other country be they friend or foe, having bases on U.S. soil? We have over 700 bases around the world and we are less safe now than we've ever been. Sometimes I just want to shake people.

    ReplyDelete