Letter to the President

Dear Mr. Bush,

We have a solution for Iraq, a solution that will save us $100 billion a year, thousands of lives, and allows us to regain some trust and credibility. The said solution will also enhance your legacy, assure a better future for our children, and reverse the alarming and increasing rate of enemies.

Mr. President, you must recognize that we have made mistakes, after mistakes, in Iraq. Every time we change the course.......oops, the tactics, we just show to the world, that we do not know what we are doing. Soon, no one will believe in the "savoir faire" of American Management or Consultant Companies. We will be losing international contracts, relations and clients.

Meanwhile, Chinese, Asian and European companies and authorities are taking advantage of our imbroglio in Iraq and Afghanistan, combined with our deteriorating foreign policy. Mr. President, you should know by now that we can not continue to insult every nation that dares to disagree with the White House.

We do not give other nations too much choice with a philosophy of "You are with us, or against us". Not being with us on one particular policy, does not mean they are against us......but, it is surely an incentive not to be with us again, for a future policy.....and eventually, to be against us, for all policies. You see.....we still have something to learn from the "Old Europe". Even from our ex-good neighbour, Canada.

The situation in Iraq will not be resolved by politicians and military generals. The situation is getting worse and worse. Spain and Italy have been leaving. Next year, Britain is also supposed to call back their 8,000 soldiers. Who and how do we replace them?

Redeploying more soldiers to Baghdad was another mistake, and believing that securing Baghdad will secure Iraq, becomes an additional mistake.

To save face in Iraq, and our future, is a too important task to be left into the hands of politicians and military generals. Mr. President, you need someone from the street, from outside your "entourage". We represent several well-respected citizens, and professionals from various fields, and we have a solution.

We just need 10 minutes of your time, alone. No Vice President, no Secretary of Defense, no Secretary of State. You agree with our solution, or you won't. If you agree, you will understand the strategy in having a private meeting with you. You have nothing to lose, but 10 minutes, while taking a chance to assure a greater future for our children, and improve your legacy.

Very Sincerely Yours,

The Facilitator

How to promote Democracy (2)

We have seen in part (1) that democracy is not for everyone. As Winston Churchill said: "democracy is the worst political system yet devised, except for all the others". In "Democracy in America", Alexis de Tocqueville wrote: "Democracy has enormous benefits, but also has the most dangers".

If we sincerely believe that our system is better, we should not have to lecture, nor spend a fortune in a low-class propaganda. Nothing is more convincing than a good behaviour, concrete examples, and successful results.

Having three cars in the driveway, four television sets, six cell phones, a series of gadgets, working 60 hours a week, not taking responsible time with children, ignorance about the world outside our borders (?), shootings in schools, poor performance of our students at the international level, 25% of the population who do not have access to decent healthcare, etc.....are not necessarily the "dream" of all awake foreigners.

Psychic consequence...

The world is laughing at us....and we should cry. Our children will pay a heavy price because of our ignorance, arrogance, and superior attitude. We are losing more and more friends, and creating more and more enemies. In more than 100 countries, children and adults can now play at killing Americans on video-games.

It might be safer than being killed at home....but, now, we have created a new disastrous phenomenon: a long lasting psychic attitude against Americans. A billion people, in school, at home, at work, now, can release their frustrations and/or satisfy their own personal feelings, by killing us on video-games.

Forget the mosques, extremist Muslims, and other radicals, we have seen the enemy..........and he is us.

Triple Standard

If we want to be smarter with Latin America, which is " la raison-d'être " of The Liaison, we must start to be serious, and honest with ourselves.

We boycott Cuba because it is a communist state, but we deal with China, Vietnam, and others.

We boycott Cuba because Castro is a dictator, but we deal with Pakistan, Libya, Egypt, and others in Africa.

We have invaded Iraq because we wanted to believe in the madness of Saddam and his weapons of mass destruction, and then, as an after-thought, to promote democracy, but we did not invade Pakistan, still with weapons of mass destruction, still with a dictatorship, still harbouring members of Al Qaida, plus Ben Laden, at certain days.

We are against regimes of autocrats, but still deal with Arab countries.

We are for democracy, but do not respect the will of people who have democratically elected a government (Palestine). We did not like either the face of the first president of Iraq, and forced him to resign (going against the will of the voters). Now, we blame his successor for our failures.

We are for democracy, as long as we like the result. We are for democracy, but we have supported, and/or even installed dictators in the past (Shah of Iran, Batista, Indonesia, Congo, Uganda, Nicaragua, Nigeria, South Korea, South Vietnam, Bolivia, Brazil, Honduras, Guatemala, Haiti, etc. etc.).

We blame other countries for their lack of human rights, but we forget Guantanamo, Iraq, torture in hidden jails in Syria.

We are for the rules of law, as long as we can change the rules, to dissimulate our lack of respect for the law.

As recently described by Yevgeny A. Zhovtis, Kazakhstan International Bureau of Human Rights and Rule of Law: "There are four enemies of human rights: oil, gas, war on terror, geopolitical considerations. And we have all four". But, we provide financial assistance to his country, and an invitation to the White House.

The world is not that stupid, anymore. We are not walking the talk. The famous quotation of Abraham Lincoln: "we can fool all the people for a certain time; we can fool certain people, all the time; but we can not fool all the people, all the time".

Oh, by the way.....Cuba has some oil, and is rich in certain minerals. A few companies from Canada, Italy, Spain, have been drilling there, with success. Perhaps, we should lift the embargo. There are a few companies in Houston that are frustrated.

We have a second proposal to the White House.

Mr. Bush, you promised $80 million to White Cubans of Miami for promoting democracy in Cuba.

Give us a similar amount. We promise you, Mr. Bush, to do a better job in promoting democracy in Cuba. In addition, we will assist the real Cubans in their real needs, and develop a mutually beneficial relationship between Americans and Cubans, a willing and lasting connection.

Mr. Bush, do not forget our first proposal to save our country $100 billion a year, save face in Iraq, restore some credibility and trust from the rest of the world, and save thousands of lives. As mentioned in our article of October 1, we just need a private meeting with you and Secretary of State.

Any members of Congress reading? You have an opportunity to build a better future for our children. Just arrange that meeting for us. It will also enhance the legacy of the President. This will definitely attract his attention.

Mr. Bush, tear down that wall

There are better, and cheaper ways to protect our border with Mexico, which covers 1,951 miles.

- If the main reason to erect a wall of 700 miles (1/3 of the total border), consists in controlling the future number of illegal Mexicans in this country, we already know certain facts. We presently have about 12 million undocumented residents, who work at low wages or pay for various social benefits, that they will never take advantage of. Free money to the Government. Also, they don't always pay for the use of our hospital and school services, but pay taxes on items they purchase.

The main and real question remains: what to do, now. There are various ways to find out who and where they are. But, assuming we gather all the information, do we keep them or force them to leave. We do not need a wall for that. "Just wait, just wait, Mr. Lou Dobbs"

The problem: how many more next year?

- If the real reason to erect a wall consists in eliminating all potential terrorists, in the event they are not already here, it is simply too late. The wall is not the solution.

We have a few suggestions with the following benefits:

* save $100 billion a year
* save face in Iraq
* create new jobs in our own country
* promote democracy
* positive approach with Latin America
* more security at home

We know, or should know, (because the world does), that our presence in Iraq has contributed to the cloning of hundreds and hundreds of Al-Qaida groups and supporters. Perhaps, we should clone another Saddam for taking control of Iraq.

Like it or not, there were three main sects before (we should have known that), they are still there today, they will still be there tomorrow...unless, we assist to a total genocide of one group.

There are two theories:

i- our presence in Iraq contributes to develop more enemies at a faster tempo that we succeed (or fail) to eliminate them

ii- if we leave, we will assist to a civil war (too late, already in force), or a greater chaos (already worse than the Saddam's regime).

We have a solution for leaving Iraq while saving face, regaining some credibility and respect from the rest of the world.

Let's see, first, the benefits in leaving Iraq.

We could use our 147,000 soldiers to secure the 1,951 miles with Mexico. Imagine, we do not need a fence anymore. One soldier every 210 feet, with three shifts per day.

We could save billions by not having to ship equipment overseas. We could create thousands of new jobs here, in United States, by not outsourcing billions and billions of dollars in food, shopping, fuel, repairs, and various articles.

This should definitely pleases Mr. Lou Dobbs of CNN: less outsourcing and a soldier every 210 feet for a more secure (and humane) border. Not only we could save $1.2 billion by not erecting the fence, but also, much more by decreasing the need of electronic equipment and high-tech TV cameras.

Our soldiers could be on the front line with the assistance of our border patrol as back-up or second levee, in case there is a breach on the front line.

We could also use the thousands of trailers paid for Katrina, presently sleeping in the middle of nowhere, for assisting our troops. Who said that the aftermath of Katrina was poorly planned? A United Front: the army, the reserve, the national guard, the border patrol....How better can we show the world that we are United..... After all, we are the United States of America....standing on guard, protecting our Mexican border, from Pacific Ocean to Gulf of Mexico.

Additional benefits: it will be much easier to recruit new volunteers....less pressure tactics....Who would not like to serve our country in guarding our border against illegal immigrants or potential terrorists.

It is becoming harder and harder to fight the enemies abroad, instead of having to fight them at home. The problem: abroad becomes, more and more, a broader abroad, much longer and larger than 1,951 miles. It should be easier to stop the terrorists at our door. We should remember that the actors of 9/11 were from inside. We will never succeed to stop the thinking of outsiders.

Father Haliburton will be mad, with such a scenario, but, if we want to promote democracy, we must show, and proof, that the will of the many, prevails over the will of the few.

Now, for the solution of leaving Iraq, it is a simple, but practical idea. We will only share it with the President and Secretary of State. If someone is reading us, if you have good contacts with the White House, you have an opportunity to provide a better future for our children, and a better legacy for the President.

Mr. Bush, listen to a great Republican President, Donald Reagan, and tear down that wall.

The Facilitator.