Posted: 8/31/2004 8:49:07 PM EDT
OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH
Mr. President, as a Vietnam veteran, I want to thank you for your service to our nation as a supersonic F-102 Delta Dagger jet pilot, a dangerous task in itself. I want to thank you for protecting our families so we could fight in Vietnam. I know that the mission of the 147th Fighter Group and its subordinate 111th FIS, Texas ANG, and their jets, the F-102, was air defense. I know that the “Palace Alert Program” was ongoing when you joined the TANG and extended your service commitment to be trained as a pilot. I know the Palace Alert program had F-102 Delta Dagger pilots like you rotating to Vietnam and that 15 F-102 pilots were killed there, and that you volunteered to go there, but they changed the unit’s mission right after you started training. I know you sought and received permission to work on 2 campaigns after several years of service, and could not have been AWOL and still receive an honorable discharge. I know that, despite Kerry’s handler’s propaganda that the TANG did not start drug testing for pilots until well over a decade after you were discharged.
Many fellow veterans and I want you to know that we will never forget, belittle, or slander the service of the 6,077 National Guardsmen and Reservists who lost their lives in Vietnam. I know that we will never denigrate any National Guard service, especially knowing that 140 National Guardsmen were recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor.
We know that very few backers of John Kerry who have labeled you a “coward” and “draft-dodger” and “AWOL” would never have the cajones themselves to strap themselves into the pilot seat of an F-102 Delta Dart jet, soar down the runway several hundred MPH, and then push themselves through blue skies faster than the speed of sound. We know they would never do that, especially if they knew 6 of your TANG fellow F-102 pilots were killed in training accidents. I know that John Kerry would not do it, unless maybe he could take his movie camera along.
We know that 17 pro-Kerry/anti-Bush books have been written and only 1 Anti-Kerry book, UNFIT FOR COMMAND, yet they attack you to divert attention. We know that over $ 63,000,000 has been spent by 527’s to slander and denigrate you, and only $ 1 million by the Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth (http://www.swiftvets.com/), yet they attack you. We know that a dark ominous cloud of hypocrisy and dishonor now hangs over the Kerry campaign, because they attack you instead of answering the questions we all want answered. We all know that John Kerry still refuses the apologies and explanations that we Vietnam veterans all want, not for his “service” in Vietnam, but for his “disservice” after he returned; not for his “awards and decorations,” but for his “words and declarations.”
President Bush, we know that Michael Moore’s FARENHEIT 9-1-1 has now been proven to contain 56 outright lies, yet you remain above the fray, still quietly visit wounded soldiers in hospitals, take care of our country’s business, run a war, love your wife and daughters, and do all you can to support our troops.
We all know that Kerry commanded 5 and 6 men at a time, for four months, when he was young. By comparison, you, for the past four years, have commanded 485,244 Soldiers, 384,290 Sailors, 174,018 Marines, 367,648 Airmen and women, and 38,490 Coast Guard personnel. In other words, instead of commanding 5 or 6 men in war, you have been commanding 1,449,690 military personnel in war, and they have kicked butt, so far. Never has any military command moved so fast, killed so many enemy with so comparative few civilian casualties, preserved so many religious temples, schools, homes, and businesses, liberated over 50,000,000 people in such a short time, and have been so sensitive to the civilian populace, from privates to generals, in world history.
Mr. President we know you were stuck with the start of a recession, but have turned that around despite the worst attack on US soil in history, and a resulting war. We know, because of all that, we have horrible deficits, but that Kerry, who criticizes you, has voted to raise Social Security taxes 8 times, and voted for middle class tax raises 18 times, and has literally voted to raise taxes overall 98 times. Ninety-eight times, Mr. President, yet he criticizes you? We know, Sir, that John Kerry, who puts you down for faulty intelligence, NEVER showed up EVEN ONE TIME for his job on the Senate Intelligence Committee since September 11, 2001, the day that America wept. We know that Kerry voted to cut the CIA and NSA by 80% and voted to cut the FBI by 60%.
Mr. President, we know that you made France and Germany and other countries angry, and I want to simply say “God bless you, Sir.” John Kerry wants all the countries to like us, but you will insure that all countries first RESPECT us, and then they can like us if they want. On September 11, 2001, we experienced the worst sneak attack we have ever had, and you, knowing that teachers and staff in that school were in a panic; with your own heart broken, kept reading to the little children, allaying the fears and heartbreak of all those fear-stricken adults that were there off-camera. I know, Mr. President, that the principal of that school highly-praised your actions to the press afterwards. But, for partisan sabotage alone, we know that Michael Moore and Kerry’s handlers tried to turn that incident around to make you look bad, while John Kerry, himself, sat paralyzed in total INACTION in a Washington DC office building for over forty minutes. I know that afterwards, you dropped to your knees in prayer, then raised your head, stood up, set your jaw, and swore that “Terrorism will be stopped!,” and have been wisely leading us against our enemies ever since.
Mr. President, I fought in Vietnam, and I understand why we are at war and why we invaded Iraq, but there are mothers, Sir, who desperately do not want any more sons or daughters to die. And because, for partisan politics alone, you have been slandered more than any sitting President during a time of war, they do not know what you realized, that planting a democracy right in the middle of dangerous America-hating and Israel-hating theocracies might just sprout the vines to prevent World War III and kill the hatchlings of terrorism better than any Smart bomb yet constructed. You understood this principle, Sir: Give the oppressed a taste of freedom, then stand back and watch. I know, if those mothers and other women simply use their common sense, Mr. President, and look at the relationship between you and your childhood sweetheart, the First Lady Laura Bush, they will know that you must certainly understand the needs of women in America. I also know that they will also be witnessing the living definition of the term “First Lady.”
In short, President Bush, the truth will out, stay the course, and remember, when it gets tough, that you can always tell the power of a man, or woman, by the amount of dogs nipping at their heels.
And I have one final comment, Sir. You have also been taking much heat by the liberal element for standing up not only for America, but also for God. And on that, I stand with you all the way, Mr. President, and those who do not like it can go straight to hell. In fact, they just might.
Don Bendell served as an officer in four Special Forces Groups, including a tour on a green beret A-team (Dak Pek) in Vietnam in 1968-1969, and was in the Top Secret Phoenix Program, is a top-selling author of 21 books, with over 1,500,000 copies of his books in print worldwide, a 1995 inductee into the International Karate Hall of Fame, and owns karate schools in southern Colorado. mailto:[email protected] web: www.donbendell.com .
Permission is hereby granted to reprint, copy, or pass these on wherever and to whomever you choose. This is the 11th in a series of 11 editorials about John F. Kerry, and is posted on my website with the other 10.
Blessings,
Don BendellDon or Shirley Bendell BENDELL ENTERPRISES, INC. PO Box 276, Canon City, CO 81215-0276 (719) 269-3929 Please visit our website: www.donbendell.com, or visit our other website at www.bendellkarate.com e-mail address: [email protected]JpM
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