Dr Mr President

Dr Mr President

I shall never know my grandfather, for no better reason than his country’s continued financial and political support of Israel’s incursions into and invasions of large parts of Lebanese territory. My grandfather, Malcolm H. Kerr died when he was shot by two Hezbollah gunmen outside his office on the campus of the American University of Beirut on January 18 1984 as a result of an order issued by the Islamic Republic of Iran to rid Lebanon of so-called “infidels.”
That decree would likely never have been passed had US sponsorship for abusive governments and regimes not continued throughout the second half of the 20th Century. The Shah of Iran, a western sympathizer was guilty of huge human rights abuses as well as inefficient rule, the combination of which can be attributed to the rise of the Islamic Revolution that saw fanaticism stew across the Middle East. More pressingly, since the days of Ariel Sharon, Israel has adopted a policy beyond international law in terms of so-called “retaliation” against the civilians of the Palestinian Territories and Lebanon.
Likewise, the two greatest beneficiaries of US Foreign Aid, Israel and Egypt are controlled by Washington-leaning, repressive governments. Hosni Mubarak et al have rounded up many members of the Muslim Brotherhood as a subsequent favour to George W. Bush’s administration. Israel, by far the greatest recipient of US foreign aid has used the money to develop perhaps the most ruthlessly efficient military in the Eastern Mediterranean and the wider Middle East. This military they have used to invade Lebanon and run rampant over the beleaguered Palestinians. The systematic elimination of the remnants of Palestine has continued for well over 25 years and yet our great country, the only one with real power to bring it to a halt just stands by. Of course, this creates massive animosity for the US and Israel amongst not only Islamic fundamentalists but civilians the world over. This January of 2009, a Danish man shot two Israelis in Odense as some sort of mitigation of the Israeli bombing of Palestine and yet America allows the slaughter to go on. So long as that is the case, civilians will take the law into their own hands. For the stability of our country and the world, please act now Mr President.`
Mr President, your olad friend Jeremiah Wright was right, if blunt in describing the terrible attacks of September 11th 2001 as “chickens coming home to roost.” What should have been perceived as a wake-up call was coloured instead as an excuse for the killing to continue. My heart goes out to the families of the soldiers who gave their lives for freedom and liberty but those were not the motives their commanders had in mind. Does anybody know how many civilians have died not only in Iraq but in Afghanistan too?
Mr President, so long as our country continues to sponsor the Israeli persecution of Palestine, innocent civilians, American and otherwise will continue to needlessly die. 230 civilians were killed on the first day of the Israeli Air Force’s current bombing campaign. The replying salvos of rockets penetrated an Israeli school that was thankfully closed for the day. Hundreds of children would have otherwise died because their government had, using American money, set off an awful chain reaction. The same people that witness daily the Israeli Army-perpetrated abuses of Palestinians suffer as a result of their government’s morbid policy.
Mr President, you have a wonderful opportunity to restore some kind of normalcy to a region of the world that was once so impressive as to foster three of the world’s strongest religions. Not since Jimmy Carter has any President been willing to talk to those countries regarded as enemies. I assure you that a great deal of your popularity outside the borders of the United States derives purely from your billing as a man who will institute a more intelligent, even-handed foreign policy. In a poll of non-Americans, 75% of the sample preferred you to your adversaries due to this. If we extend this trend across the whole world of non-Americans, 4.5 billion people believe that you are the man to steady the ship. It is true that your duty is to the American people so bear this in mind: Dozens of families lost loved ones in Lebanon. Many thousands more lost loved ones because their sons and daughters fought for what was an apparently justified cause in various theatres across the Middle East and yet still, the root cause of the problem, Israel’s unchecked extermination of the Palestinian people continues to be so by their greatest benefactor. All you have to do is condition their aid package and the killing will fall away.
Mr President, it is in your interest to constrict our tax-funded aid package to Israel. This would eventually lead to an end to the illegal Israeli land, sea and air blockades of the Palestinian territories, opening up mental and actual trade routes to two of the world’s most resilient economies in the face of the global financial crises, Iran and Lebanon. Instead, that possibility is marred by the persistence of the Jewish lobby whilst also diverting funds to Tel Aviv that will ultimately taint the hands of our country’s taxpayers, a country that since 2003 has been trying to repair its so awfully broken image.
We elected you as the man to help us with that process.
Mr President, the international community has pleaded with the Israeli government to bring a close to the slaughter. You have to opportunity to bring down the role of America as a perpetrator and instigator of violence and warfare in the Middle East. If I, a 17 year-old, can recognise this then so surely does the man who was once a hero to me.