George W. Bush Contacts The Family Of A Dead Soldier [Apr 26, 2004]

Dear Grieving Parent:

I’m sending this personal letter to express my extreme sorrow at the loss of your son/daughter, who was recently killed while bringing freedom to the Iraqi people. As my dear friend and adviser Karen Hughes has said, the difference between our terrorist enemies and us is that we value every human life, which is why it’s vital that we ban abortion in this country. But no lives, even those of unborn innocents, are more valuable than the ones that have been lost while trying to keep us safe from evil.

Having never sent my children to war and having never been to war myself, I cannot begin to imagine what you’re experiencing right now. Still, I know that war making, for the cause of good, is the noblest purpose of humankind. The Almighty is with us in our quest. I pray that, through your tears, you’ve retained faith both in God and in the rightness of our mission.

However, I must urge you to ignore news reports that indicate a lack of planning on my part or on the part of the Administration as regards our mission in Iraq. Such information is false, because I can in no way be held culpable for the deaths of any Americans. It’s important for you to know that after a lone rocket-wielding insurgent thug attacked your son’s/daughter’s patrol unit, the surviving soldiers didn’t fire randomly into a crowd. I can only repeat our military spokesmen’s subsequent denial. Our soldiers are incapable of shooting one Iraqi child, much less four.

The United States Of America does not traffic in the killing of children. Our army is one of liberation, not occupation. This war has absolutely nothing to do with the high-profit business of a small cadre of international businessmen and the narrow ideological obsessions of pseudo-intellectual armchair generals.  We are engaged in a mighty struggle for the future of civilization. The evildoers, thugs, and terrorists who oppose us will surrender or perish, and those who do nothing to stop them are implicated in their crimes. It's our duty to free the Iraqi people if we have to kill every last one of them. Your deceased child knew that well.

And you no longer have to worry about pictures of your child’s coffin or funeral being shown on television or in the newspaper. We listened to your pleas and nipped that in the bud. From now on, our departed soldiers will be remembered, per their families’ wishes, as anonymous cannon fodder.

Well, that’s about all I wanted to say. May the Almighty bless you and keep you in these days of epic battle. Please feel free to drop by any time if you want to talk.

Your President,

George W. Bush