|
28 January 2005
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton United States Senate 476 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senator Clinton:
I am writing to you to express my severe disappointment over your vote in favor of confirming Condileezza Rice as Secretary of State.
Dr. Rice was the National Security Advisor at the time of the greatest terrorist attack on US soil in modern history. While occupying that position, she received multiple warnings of impending attacks by al Qaeda, some even going so far as to surmise that terrorists were seeking to use fully fueled passenger jets as missiles to fly directly into buildings. When confronted with these reports, rather than act on them, Dr. Rice did nothing. We all know what the end result was. And then she tried to lie about the alerts in order to minimize them.
Furthermore, since that time, Dr. Rice has participated in a campaign by the Bush administration to take America to war based on lies, and has also participated in attempts to enable US forces to torture prisoners. The line of torture is not a blurred one, as some administration officials would like us to think. Rather, it is a clear one, and it acts as a divider between civilization and barbarism. Should we continue down the path into barbarism, how on earth can we ever expect to win a campaign that is supposedly against it?
To be frank, as a left-progressive Democrat, you have repeatedly disappointed me as my Senator. From endorsing the Iraq War Resolution to voting in favor of bankruptcy reforms that primarily benefit Wall Street at the expense of working families and single mothers, I have found numerous issues with which to disagree with you. However, I had hoped that standing on the side of civilization against barbarism was one battle in which I would find you standing on my side. Apparently I was mistaken.
Furthermore, should you have political ambitions beyond the Senate for the near future, I would hope that you do not come to expect too much to come of them. I may only be one person, but I can tell you that a great many of progressive and liberal Democrats feel the same way about you as I do. And seeing as how we are the ones who take time to knock on doors, spread literature, and such – I can guarantee that we will not be lining up to do so for your campaigns in the future. If we wanted Republican values representing New York and our nation, we’d vote for the real thing.
Sincerely, Christopher A. Harrison Mount Kisco, New York
|