You are either with us or with the terrorists [Archives:2003/643/Letters to the Editor]
Mark R.
[email protected]
I am an American citizen born and raised in Texas, and a Republican who voted for President Bush. It pains me to watch the news in my country and see our soldiers in your part of the world, dying.
We're only over there because of situations caused by people in your part of the world. Most U.S. citizens know the few ignorant people that caused September 11 do not represent your countries as a whole, but nevertheless, they came from part of the world. The U.S. will not sit idle while your part of the world tears itself apart. I know your media portrays the U.S. as an arrogant power, and sometimes we are, but we are the only country in the world right now that has the resources to make changes in this world, and therefore it's our responsibility too.
We will rebuild Iraq, but it's going to take longer than two months! It's going to take years to make it stable and billions of our dollars to do it. Let me say that again, billions of our dollars. And no, we're not going to get repaid by Iraq's oil reserves. If you look closely at the situation, it's going to cost so much to heal the oil production in that country. In order to get a return on our investment, it will take decades. Anyway, in the next 30 years we will not be using oil, we're trying harder and harder everyday to get away from fossil fuels.
The U.S. will continue to be a presence in the Middle East for decades. We are waging a war against terror and won't be leaving until it is won. If your governments would crack down and work with the U.S. in catching these terrorists, then we could leave sooner.
Americans do not want to be over in your part of the world anymore than you do. It costs us billions of dollars to keep soldiers and equipment functioning over there. We're losing a soldier everyday to enemy fire, and meanwhile some of your citizens are bombing our compounds and threatening our embassies. Get control of your populations, stop breeding hate in your schools and mosques, and take some responsibility for what is going on.
Either you are with the U.S. and the free world, or you are with the terrorists. The terrorists are not going to win, so pick your side carefully.
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