Following is a letter I am posting to the President today.  I think he'd appreciate whatever encouragement any of us can offer.

President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington D.C. 20500-0001

Dear President Bush:

I write to express my unqualified encouragement and support for the efforts you have promised to avenge the despicable attack on our country this morning. Like our parents and grandparents, Americans today will gladly endure every hardship, make every sacrifice, and take every risk needed to insure total victory in the war that has been thrust upon us. In the wake of Pearl Harbor--and today's attack--is no less serious.  President Roosevelt promised the nation  that "we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again."

As long as you exhibit similar resolve, Americans, even those of us that did not vote for you,  will stand with you to a man. I urge you to take heart in that fact, and to let no uncertainty, no criticism from abroad, no qualms about the deadly destruction you must order, dissuade you from the task. If you err, err on the side of total retribution and total safety for all Americans everywhere. If you  do,       you need fear neither the judgment of history nor of Providence.

T. H. Fehrenbach, in his account of the Texas Revolution in Lone Star, quotes John Stuart Mill:

                          War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest thing:
                          the decayed and degraded state of moral and
                          patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a
                          war is worse... A man who has nothing which he
                          cares more about than his personal safety is a
                          miserable creature who has no chance of being
                          free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of
                          better men than himself.

Let us now demonstrate that we are men equal to our predecessors in exerting ourselves for freedom.

Very truly yours,

Joseph A. McDermott, III

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Good letter Joe.

Our greatest threat however is not from terrorist aboard but from within America.  The tragedy we suffered today has its roots in the U.S. Senate decades ago.

We dismantled our human intelligence apparatus under the Kennedy/Byah/Church leadership in the seventies.  President Carter gave us  'moral leadership' and the forces of evil laughed at our stupidity.  We naively repudiated assassination as a weapon, preventing us from cutting off the head of the snakes--Bin Laden, Khaddafi, Hessian, and yes, Castro and the others who hate the American people.

We have forgotten the lessons of the original counter-terrorists, the Texas Rangers.  They raided the savages in their camps, struck fear in  their hearts, destroyed their ability to wage war , and made the frontier  safe for our forbearers.   We will see if we have learned this hard lesson and recognize the  mistakes of the past.  We must authorize our forces to fight fire with  fire, and re-establishes America as a force for peace, capable of meeting any threat  to freedom, with an effective response.

 God Bless America,

 Jack

 Jack Rains

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I believe any encouragement we can give this president is appropriate and welcomed.  We're getting ready to witness the true measure of this man.  I agree, as well, with Jack's thoughts.  This level of terrorism has long been predicted and the day has come when we're at the crossroad.

lfh

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For the first time in my 41 years our generation will truly be tested. Our way of life and our values will be challenged. I hope that we are able to act with the same courage and commitment to our cause that our parents, grandparents and great grandparents did in their time of trial.  May God be with the President and his advisors as they make what will be world altering decisions in the coming weeks. I pray for our sons and daughters who will be called upon to defend our Country.

George W. "Trey" Strake, III
Cushman & Wakefield of Texas, Inc.
2800 Post Oak Boulevard, Suite 5300
Houston, TX 77056-6111
713/877-1700 (Main)
713/877-8307 (direct)
713/877-1965 (fax)
trey_strake@cushwake.com
www.cushmanwakefield.com