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Charlton Heston on President Clinton
This letter was written by Eric Jowers, a retired Army Officer, who served as public affairs officer at Fort Rucker from 1989 to 1991. He now lives in Ozark, Alabama. It was forwarded to me in February, 1999, by a former sailor on the U.S.S. Corry.
It's not about sex. If it were about sex, you would be long gone. Just like a doctor, attorney or teacher who had sex with a patient, client or student half his age, you would have violated the ethics of your office and would be long gone.
Just like Sergeant Major of the Army, Gene McKinney, who though found not guilty, was forced to resign amid accusations of sexual abuse.
Remember the Air Force General you wouldn't nominate to be Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff because he freely admitted to an affair almost 15 years before, while he and his wife were separated? Unlike you, he was never accused of having a starry-eyed office assistant my daughter's age perform oral sex on him while he was on the phone and his wife and daughter were upstairs.
If it were about sex, you should be subjected to the same horrible hearings that Clarence Thomas was subjected to because of the accusations of Anita Hill. The only accusation then was that he talked dirty to her; he didn't even leave semen stains on her dress. No, it's not about sex.
It's about character. It's about lying. It's about arrogance. It's about abuse of power. It's about dodging the draft and lying about it. When caught in a lie by letters you wrote, you concocted a story that nobody believed. But we excused it and looked away.
It's about smoking dope, and lying about it. “I didn't inhale,” you said. Sure, and when I was 15 and my buddies and I swiped a beer from an unwatched refrigerator, we drank from it, but we didn't swallow.
“I broke no laws of the United States,” you said. That's right, you smoked dope in England or Norway or Moscow; where you were demonstrating against the U.S.A. You lied, but we excused it and looked away.
It's about you selling overnight stays in the White House to any foreigner or other contributor with untraceable cash. It's about Whitewater and Jim and Susan McDougal and Arkansas, Gov. Jim Guy Tucker and Vincent Foster and Jennifer Flowers and Paula Jones and Karen Willey and nearly countless others.
It's about stealing the records from Foster's office while his body was still warm and putting them in your bedroom and “not noticing them” for two years.
It's about illegal political contributions. It's about you and Al Gore soliciting contributions and selling influence at Buddhist temples and in the same Oval Office where Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt led their countries through the dark days of wars that threatened the very existence of our nation. But we excused you and looked away.
It's about hiding evidence from Ken Starr, refusing to testify, filing legal motions, coaching witnesses, obstructing justice and delaying Judge Starr's inquiry for months and years, and then complaining that it has gone on too long. The polls agreed. Thank goodness that Judge Starr didn't read the polls, play politics or excuse you and look away. He held on to the evidence like a tenacious bulldog.
Your supporters say that you've confessed your wrong doings and asked for our forgiveness. Listen, what you said on TV the night you testified to the grand jury was not a confession; overwhelming evidence is not a confession at all. Not that it would make a lot of difference.
A murderer who contritely confesses his crime is still a murderer. When your “confession” didn't sell, even to your friends, you became more forthcoming.
Maybe someday you'll confess more, but probably not. You've established such a pattern of lying that we can't believe you anymore. Neither can your cabinet, the Congress or any of the leaders of the nations of the world.
When a leader's actions defame and emasculate our country as profoundly as yours have, it's no longer a personal matter, as you claim. It's no longer a matter among you, your family and your God.
By the way, I don't believe for a minute that Hillary was unaware of your sexual misadventures, abuses of power, and pattern of lying. She has been a party to your wrong doings since Whitewater and Jennifer Flowers just as surely as she lied about the Rose law firm's billings and hid the Vincent Foster evidence in your bedroom for two years.
Why? So she could share in the raw power that your office carries. The two of you probably lied to Chelsea, but that is a matter among you, your family and your God.
Remember the sign over James Carvill's desk during the l992 campaign? It said, “It's the economy, stupid!” Place this sign over your desk: “It's about character, stupid!” No, it's not about sex, Mr. President.
If it were, you would be long gone. It's about character; but we have to live with your filth, lies and arrogance for a while longer. Your lies, amorality and lack of character have been as pervasive as they have been despicable, so we have no reason to believe that you will quietly resign and go away.
You'll count on half truths and spin doctors to see you through, the country be damned. It has always worked before. We excused you and looked the other way.
No more, we've had enough. You betrayed us enough. You have made every elected official, minister, teacher, diplomat, parent and grandparent in the country apologize for you and explain away your actions.
Now go away, and let us show them that our country was not without morals. It was just that you were. Let us show them America was not the problem. William Jefferson Clinton was.
Go away, Mr. President. Leave us alone. And when you leave, know your legacy to the United States of America will be a stain on the Office of the President that is as filthy as the stain on Monica's dress. It will take a lot of scrubbing to make it clean again.
The war we waged against the Serbians in the former Yugoslavia from March to June, 1999, might well serve as a model of how not to use force as an extension of political power. Using a defensive alliance, NATO, as an offensive agency to intervene in a civil war waged entirely within a sovereign countries borders exceeds the bounds of reason, no matter how odious one of the country's leaders may be.
As president, Clinton has on a number of occasions used foreign adventurism in order to divert the attention of Americans from his sexual misadventures. One comment directed toward that subject was made by the comedian Jay Leno, who on learning we were bombing Yugoslavia said he “...hadn't even heard Clinton was dating again.”
Our attacks were purportedly designed to save ethnic Albanians in the Kosovo region, yet it is estimated that at least one million of these people have been permanently displaced almost entirely as a result of our bombing. Substantial numbers of them have also been killed from both friendly(?) and hostile fire. During our war against the former Yugoslavia, the United States bombed a country outside Yugoslavia, bombed hospitals and jails, civilians, a refugee convoy, and the Chinese Embassy, among other targets. Bombing to preserve peace has been compared to having sex to preserve virginity.
Then there is the military view as well expressed by General Griffin:
Now let's see here if I understand all this correctly? President Clinton has ordered our forces to engage an entrenched, politically-motivated enemy, backed by the Russians, on their home ground, in a foreign civil war, in difficult terrain, with limited military objectives, bombing restrictions, boundary and operational restrictions, queasy allies, far across the ocean, with uncertain goals, without prior consultation with Congress, the potential for escalation, while limiting the forces at his disposal, and the majority of Americans opposed to or at least uncertain about the value of the action being worth American lives.
So just what was it that he was opposed to in Vietnam?
Lt. Gen. Tom Griffin USA (ret.)
I was embarrassed to read that President Clinton and his advisors have said, “The older generation must learn to sacrifice as other generations have done.” That's my generation. I knew eventually someone would ferret out the dirty secret: we've lived the “lifestyle of the rich and famous” all our lives.
Now, I know I must bare the truth about my generation and let the country condemn us for our selfishness. We certainly don't deserve any of that Social Security money that we've put away for 45 or 50 years! We sure don't need help with our medical bills...no, we've surely got enough put away for a $250,000 open heart surgery bill. We've had so much fun in our lives, why just read the following: During the Depression we had a hilarious time dancing to the tune of “Brother Can You Spare A Dime?” We could choose to dine at any of the country's fabulous soup kitchens, often joined by our parents and siblings...those were the heady days of carefree self-indulgence.
Then, with World War II, the cup filled to overflowing. We had the chance to bask on the exotic beaches of Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima and Okinawa; to see the capitols of Europe and travel to such scenic spots as Bastogne, Malmedy and Monte Cassino. Of course, one of the most exhilarating adventures was the stroll from Bataan to the local Japanese hotels, laughingly known as death camps. But the good times really rolled for those lucky enough to be on the beaches of Normandy for the swimming and boating that pleasant June day in '44. Unforgettable.
Even luckier were those that drew the prized holiday tickets for cruises on sleek, gray ships to fun filled spots like Midway, The Solomons and Murmansk. Instead of asking, “what can we do for our country,” an indulgent government let us fritter away our youth wandering idly through the lush and lovely jungles of Burma and New Guinea.
Yes, it's all true: we were pampered, we were spoiled rotten, we never did realize what sacrifice meant. We envy you, Mr. Clinton, the harsh lessons you learned in London, Moscow, Little Rock, and the secluded cubby's of the Oval office with a young intern.
My generation is old, Mr. President...and guilty; but we are repentant. Punish us for our failings, sir, that we may learn the true meaning of Duty, Honor, and Country. Give that money that we've been putting into Social Security and Medicare to those more deserving...like yourself?
The common good comes before the private good.
We must stop thinking of the individual and start thinking about what is best for society.
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