Letter to John Kerry

Following the speech by President George W. Bush, Thursday September 15, 2005 in New Orleans Louisiana, you criticized Bush, saying "Leadership isn't a speech or a toll-free number."

I suppose Senator Kerry that you know what leadership is. That you can spot leadership when you see it.  That you consider yourself to be a Leader.  Leadership is a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent. Leaders carry out this process by applying their leadership attributes, such as beliefs, values, ethics, character, knowledge, and skills.

I suppose John Kerry's idea of leadership is to throw someone else's medals over a fence to make a point. <sarcasm>

Senator,
History has taught us lessons we should not forget.

Standing up to terrorists, not appeasing them is the right thing to do.  
Neville Chamberlain declared, “Peace in our time”  (from a printed statement that Neville Chamberlain waved as he stepped off the plane on 30 September, 1938 after the Munich Conference had ended the day before.)


Appeasement is not the answer.

Pres. Reagan showed that standing up to the Soviets, face to face could defeat them. Trying to beat them by fighting in every little country and hamlet only led to Vietnam.  A war I believe you opposed.  John Kennedy stood up to the Soviets during the Cuban Missile Crisis.  Allowing them to place missiles in Cuba would have forever compromised our freedom.

Today our enemy is not Soviet Russia, but a gang of intolerant suicidal extremists, who would like nothing better than to see every one of your constituents die.

We must stand up to them. The question is: Do we fight them on their land or let them bring the fight to us. Do we allow them to kill our children in the streets of your districts?

We all know war is not pretty. That should be avoided if possible, but throughout this country’s history, great Americans, true leaders of this nation have understood that there is a time to fight. A time to “protect and defend the constitution of these United States.”

George Washington:
“My first wish is to see this plague of mankind, war, banished from the earth.”
“To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace.”

Thomas Jefferson:
I abhor war and view it as the greatest scourge of mankind.

Robert E. Lee:
“It is well that war is so terrible – lest we grow to fond of it”

General William Tecumseh Sherman:
(‘I’ve been where you are now and I know just how you feel. It’s entirely natural that there should beat in the breast of every one of you a hope and desire that some day you can use the skill you have acquired here.

‘Suppress it! You don’t know the horrible aspects of war. I’ve been through two wars and I know. I’ve seen cities and homes in ashes. I’ve seen thousands of men lying on the ground, their dead faces looking up at the skies. I tell you, war is hell!’  November, 18, 1933. )

Senator Kerry, following the killing of over 3000 innocent civilians you said "September 11th was our generation's Pearl Harbor."

Did you say this because it was popular at the time, or because you believed it.