Dear Mr. President,
The Cote d'Ivoire is, according to UN ambassador Youssoufou Bamba, on the brink of genocide. Ideally, I would think that the impending social implosion of an African nation a good reason to use US military power to protect civilians caught up in the violence. Of course, as we've overextended ourselves in Afghanistan, Iraq and our forays into Yemen and Pakistan, we simply don't have the military assistance to offer. We can hope that the UN or the African Union are able to keep peace and protect the innocent, but there is little, practically, that the US can do.
Perhaps it is naive of me to think that we should only use our troops to protect civillians, avoid genocide and keep peace. Perhaps chasing Bin Laden & the Taliban through caves is, in fact, a more effective use of our might, but I don't think our current military strategy has made us safer- indeed the number and complexity of our military engagements abroad seem to have left us in a strategically weakened position.
I'll admit that the proximity of The Cote d'Ivoire to Burkina Faso is heightening my anxiety about the crumbling political situation. I might not be so afraid if my best friend wasn't right next door. Still, I think that military force is best used to protect the weak preyed upon by the strong, to prevent the innocent from suffering whenever possible. I would rather see our troops in Cote d'Ivoire and Haiti than in Afghanistan and Iraq, where more stability could be achieved through education and infrastructure investment than any amount of troops and bombs.
I will hope that the Ambassador Bamba is incorrect in his assessment of the outlook for The Cote d'Ivoire, but should he prove correct it will be all the more frustrating to watch, helplessly, while my country is able to do nothing to stop it.
Respectfully yours,
Kelsey
Showing posts with label Pakistan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pakistan. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Day 241- A reflective mood on a cloudy day
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Dear Mr. President,
The interview you did with Brian Williams was encouraging. Your calm indifference to the rumors about your birth and religion is pretty much the only respectful way to answer such nonsense. When Mr. Williams asked you what you saw when you looked ahead, you responded "as I look forward, my central focus is going to be be to make sure that I'm constantly communicating with all segments of this country about why I feel optimistic about our future." I think this is an excellent goal and I believe that more effective communication is essential to the success of your administration. Especially given the grim economic circumstances, conveying an optimistic idea of the future will be a full-time challenge.
This hope you have for us was what drove your campaign to be successful. When the markets were crashing and things were getting worse by the day, your campaign continued to calmly promise better days. Even if it is hard for me to feel that hopeful today, I am emboldened to hear you speak of it still. I, like so many Americans, have fallen time and again to the cynicism and the pessimism that do little good. I have despaired that the progress we've made is not enough. That it was too slow, that you and your administration are no different and no better than your predecessors; that your desire to win elections had beaten your desire to do the right thing. I have thought these things, and worse. I have lost my hope that I could do anything to stop what was going wrong. I have been chided by my friends from the left and the right for my naive faith, and I let it get to me.
But I don't think that does any good. I don't think that hope or optimism does any one any harm. I haven't seen enough (or, perhaps, have seen too much) to know for sure that it does any good, but I know for certain it can't hurt. You have had it so much harder than me. You have seen friends turn on you, you have born the weight of every American life and home and job lost these last two years. You haven't lost your faith in us, or in this country. That makes me ashamed for my own capricious optimism. It comes down to this: I want to know that you're working for a better, more peaceful world. In your efforts to constantly communicate to this particular segment of the country (me), I hope that you do a better job explaining to me how you're doing that. Do this, and I promise to try harder to share your optimism for the future.
Respectfully yours,
Kelsey
PS
If any of you reading watched the full interview above, you probably saw the President and Brian Williams express their disbelief that what happened after Katrina could happen in America. I was struck by this, the implication that elsewhere that kind of devastation was to be expected. It is happening right now, and even worse, in Pakistan. I know that money is tight, but if you have anything to give, please donate to Pakistani flood relief. This shouldn't be acceptable anywhere.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Day 214- On crows, or almost certainly something Eric disapproves of
Just for fun:
Dear Mr. President,
Like many Seattlites, I have a special relationship with crows. I'm sure this is not a uniquely Seattle matter, but certainly one that has been explored by local authors and academics. I certainly didn't feel the same way about them when I lived in other cities. My irrational side, which looks for magic, or at least a deeper meaning, in just about everything, believes that crows are good omens, auspicious signs of a good day. This confuses, and deeply annoys Eric, my neighbor and close friend, who has a much firmer grip on his rational self than his silly bird-brained neighbor girl. Since we are hanging out at our neighborhood bar, looking for something to write about for our weekly writer's group meeting tomorrow night, I've decided to use him, and our ongoing argument about crows, as my inspiration for this letter.
Eric has become part of my urban family through two close friends, both of whom have a talent for finding and befriending really great men who challenge my own cynicism and mistrust of the opposite sex. He's my brother now, stuck with me if he likes it or not, even though we lost our closest link to the Peace Corps. He, mostly, finds the things that I do perplexing and absurd. Write the President every day? Ridiculous. Read ingredient lists on food? No fun at all. Imagine the outcome of my day might be portended by the appearance of birds? Downright preposterous. But, for whatever reason, he puts up with me, and I am glad for this. It's good to have people in your life to remind you to have fun. He doesn't really approve of the amount of time I spend, in general, angry or upset about things outside of my control. Some nights I find this attitude disturbing, but tonight, with devastating floods in Pakistan, effective, comprehensive energy legislation looking like a fantasy and less than $20 in my checking account, hanging out on a comfy couch and listening to the bar tender's friends sing really bad karaoke is, while not exactly productive, at least keeping me from locking myself up in my apartment and declaring myself done with life in general.
Outside of my superstitions, crows do tell us a number of things about shrinking natural habitats, and the ways that urban man and wildlife will interact in the future. I generally like the idea of an animal that has adapted to human presence in such a way that they've even mastered traffic lights, enough to use them to their advantage- it comforts me that our sprawling existence, while problematic, might not be the end of the world for every non-domesticated living creature. We've got to do more to protect wildlife, to reduce our destructive impact on the natural world; it's just nice to know that some creatures are tougher than I give them credit for.
I know, today you're talking about troop draw-downs in Iraq, the future of American small businesses, and Virginia's legal challenge to the new health care legislation. You've got bigger concerns than me and my crazy superstitions. And I'm glad you do; I'm 24, I don't have my degree, and I'm not able to Save The World, yet. So I do silly things, like listen to drunk people singing old-school country songs (and Lady GaGa,) and look to the presence of the wild in my utterly urban existence for hope that, even if you or I, or my entire generation, can't save the world, the world might save itself, a little, too.
Respectfully yours,
Kelsey
Dear Mr. President,
Like many Seattlites, I have a special relationship with crows. I'm sure this is not a uniquely Seattle matter, but certainly one that has been explored by local authors and academics. I certainly didn't feel the same way about them when I lived in other cities. My irrational side, which looks for magic, or at least a deeper meaning, in just about everything, believes that crows are good omens, auspicious signs of a good day. This confuses, and deeply annoys Eric, my neighbor and close friend, who has a much firmer grip on his rational self than his silly bird-brained neighbor girl. Since we are hanging out at our neighborhood bar, looking for something to write about for our weekly writer's group meeting tomorrow night, I've decided to use him, and our ongoing argument about crows, as my inspiration for this letter.
Eric has become part of my urban family through two close friends, both of whom have a talent for finding and befriending really great men who challenge my own cynicism and mistrust of the opposite sex. He's my brother now, stuck with me if he likes it or not, even though we lost our closest link to the Peace Corps. He, mostly, finds the things that I do perplexing and absurd. Write the President every day? Ridiculous. Read ingredient lists on food? No fun at all. Imagine the outcome of my day might be portended by the appearance of birds? Downright preposterous. But, for whatever reason, he puts up with me, and I am glad for this. It's good to have people in your life to remind you to have fun. He doesn't really approve of the amount of time I spend, in general, angry or upset about things outside of my control. Some nights I find this attitude disturbing, but tonight, with devastating floods in Pakistan, effective, comprehensive energy legislation looking like a fantasy and less than $20 in my checking account, hanging out on a comfy couch and listening to the bar tender's friends sing really bad karaoke is, while not exactly productive, at least keeping me from locking myself up in my apartment and declaring myself done with life in general.
Outside of my superstitions, crows do tell us a number of things about shrinking natural habitats, and the ways that urban man and wildlife will interact in the future. I generally like the idea of an animal that has adapted to human presence in such a way that they've even mastered traffic lights, enough to use them to their advantage- it comforts me that our sprawling existence, while problematic, might not be the end of the world for every non-domesticated living creature. We've got to do more to protect wildlife, to reduce our destructive impact on the natural world; it's just nice to know that some creatures are tougher than I give them credit for.
I know, today you're talking about troop draw-downs in Iraq, the future of American small businesses, and Virginia's legal challenge to the new health care legislation. You've got bigger concerns than me and my crazy superstitions. And I'm glad you do; I'm 24, I don't have my degree, and I'm not able to Save The World, yet. So I do silly things, like listen to drunk people singing old-school country songs (and Lady GaGa,) and look to the presence of the wild in my utterly urban existence for hope that, even if you or I, or my entire generation, can't save the world, the world might save itself, a little, too.
Respectfully yours,
Kelsey
Friday, May 7, 2010
Day 127- Omar Khadr
Dear Mr. President,
I don't know Omar Khadr. I don't know his crimes, his history or the circumstances surrounding his arrest and detention. I don't have any opinion about his guilt or innocence. I know one thing, only one thing for sure, about Omar Khadr; on the day of his arrest by US soldiers 8 years ago, he was 15 years old. I don't need to know anything else, Mr. President. I don't need to know who he allegedly killed or how he confessed to the crime of participating in the losing side of an ugly war. I don't need to know these things because it is simply inexcusable for us to treat a child this way. A child who was wounded and nearly dead when we arrested him and tortured him and convinced him that he would suffer even worse if he did not confess.
I've been 15. We've all been 15. And I'm not claiming that going to war or throwing grenades is just some adolescent stage that Khadr would have outgrown, but, by now, he has certainly lost his best chance at growing up into something better. There are legal and political arguments to be made about the rules of war and what is acceptable conduct, but we're talking about a child, who was surrounded by political upheaval, facing an invading army (right or wrong, it is what we are,) with better weapons and better armor and better training, and who, allegedly, threw a grenade; there is a higher moral argument to be made against calling that a "war crime." He should have spent the last eight years in school, not in prison. While his actions have consequences that must be acknowledged, this country has a moral obligation to demonstrate, to the world, the way a responsible superpower conducts itself. I don't believe for a second that you need to be told this, sir, but a responsible superpower does not behave this way toward children. There is simply no crime this boy could have committed to warrant the treatment he has received at American hands. This is why people hate us. It makes us less safe, it generates more anti-American sentiment, and it's just wrong.
You promised to close Guantanamo Bay, and that has not happened. We have had no explanation for this failure, no apology for the broken promise, and no indication that it will be fulfilled in the future. The people who voted for you are entitled to these answers, Mr. President, and if you cannot give them, you can at least ensure that Omar Khadr's treatment and trial are fair, just, and conducted with due consideration of his age at the time of his arrest. It is a small mercy that should be given, not out of symbolism or political expediency, but because, in this instance, we have behaved appallingly, and there will be no rectifying it until we say so.
Respectfully yours,
Kelsey
I don't know Omar Khadr. I don't know his crimes, his history or the circumstances surrounding his arrest and detention. I don't have any opinion about his guilt or innocence. I know one thing, only one thing for sure, about Omar Khadr; on the day of his arrest by US soldiers 8 years ago, he was 15 years old. I don't need to know anything else, Mr. President. I don't need to know who he allegedly killed or how he confessed to the crime of participating in the losing side of an ugly war. I don't need to know these things because it is simply inexcusable for us to treat a child this way. A child who was wounded and nearly dead when we arrested him and tortured him and convinced him that he would suffer even worse if he did not confess.
I've been 15. We've all been 15. And I'm not claiming that going to war or throwing grenades is just some adolescent stage that Khadr would have outgrown, but, by now, he has certainly lost his best chance at growing up into something better. There are legal and political arguments to be made about the rules of war and what is acceptable conduct, but we're talking about a child, who was surrounded by political upheaval, facing an invading army (right or wrong, it is what we are,) with better weapons and better armor and better training, and who, allegedly, threw a grenade; there is a higher moral argument to be made against calling that a "war crime." He should have spent the last eight years in school, not in prison. While his actions have consequences that must be acknowledged, this country has a moral obligation to demonstrate, to the world, the way a responsible superpower conducts itself. I don't believe for a second that you need to be told this, sir, but a responsible superpower does not behave this way toward children. There is simply no crime this boy could have committed to warrant the treatment he has received at American hands. This is why people hate us. It makes us less safe, it generates more anti-American sentiment, and it's just wrong.
You promised to close Guantanamo Bay, and that has not happened. We have had no explanation for this failure, no apology for the broken promise, and no indication that it will be fulfilled in the future. The people who voted for you are entitled to these answers, Mr. President, and if you cannot give them, you can at least ensure that Omar Khadr's treatment and trial are fair, just, and conducted with due consideration of his age at the time of his arrest. It is a small mercy that should be given, not out of symbolism or political expediency, but because, in this instance, we have behaved appallingly, and there will be no rectifying it until we say so.
Respectfully yours,
Kelsey
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