Dear Brothers and Sisters, Friends and Colleagues:
As many of you know, and some of you don't, my son Joe is an Arab language trained radio reconnaissance commando in the Marines. I have attached a picture of Joe and me on the last weekend I saw him before he shipped out to the Middle East.

Nancy and I were lucky enough to find a last minute flight to North Carolina, so we could spend a weekend with Joe on the outer banks. We body surfed, rode bikes and relaxed - as if the world wasn't crashing around us.

Joe was convinced as he was leaving that he would end up in Iraq.

I don't want any of our sons and daughters to die for oil interests and Bush's political gain. I certainly don't want Joe to get hurt, or to have to hurt someone else, because George Bush's ego and his financial backers won't allow a reasoned, multi-lateral approach to the situation with Iraq. And I don't want innocent Iraqi women, men and children to die.

I was outside a store the other day, listening to the clerk talk to two customers about the possibility of war. The clerk was arguing against unilateral action, questioning the line put out by the administration. The two customers were both saying that we should attack now. I wanted to go in, and show them Joe's picture and say "This is my son. He might die in your war. Now tell me why this has to be done." But I didn't. And I regret it. Part of it is that I can't talk about it without crying, as I am crying as I write this note.

So I want all of you to look at Joe's picture, those who know him and those who don't. Or look at the pictures of all the others you know who might be at risk - sons, daughters, nephews, nieces, friends and acquaintances.

If you have spoken out against the war, Nancy and I want to thank you.

If you have been thinking about doing it, and haven't yet, we want to urge you to take some action. And if you think we should go to war, without trying every other possibility, without better information, and without being able to convince the rest of the world that there is a real threat, then we want you to look at Joe's face and think it all through again. Ask the questions again.

This is not an abstract war they are talking about. Our sons and daughters will die, and so will so many others.

Before Vietnam they told us we had to save the world. Tens of thousands of Americans and many more Vietnamese died because too many accepted what they had to say. Untold thousands of others have never really recovered from what they had to live through in that war.

Please think.
Please Act.

In Solidarity,