Gregor's Letter

My grandfather, Gregor Riesser, is a boisterous, opinionated, and relentlessly analytical man who has done much in his 80+ years. At different times in his life, he was the son of a Jewish-German diplomat in the years leading up to World War II, a world-class skier, a chemist with many patents to his name, and is now a successful private investor. A loyal Democrat, he's not a big fan of George W. Bush, and often writes letters to the editor giving his opinion on an issue or correcting errors in the writing of others. Needless to say, we don't see eye-to-eye on a lot of political issues, but because we love and respect one another, we can discuss them in a spirited but civil manner, and enjoy a good bottle of wine afterwards. I submit the following as a snapshot of one of these exchanges - Gregor's letter to his Republican congressman, and my response to the copy of the letter that he pinged to me. I wish I had a copy of the letter from the congressman, as I'm sure it would add something to this dialogue as well.

Gregor H. Riesser, PhD

July 8, 2005

Dear Mr. Culberson

I am in receipt of your letter of June 27 on the Iraq War.Let me make some comments:

1) The UN Weapons Inspector had to be withdrawn, because the US attacked Iraq w/o UN sanction.

2) President Bush Senior stopped at the borders of Iraq, because he wrote, that going to Baghdad would bring and endless civil war, which is exactly what happened

3) Donald Rumsfeld was special ambassador Ronald Reagen, to reestablish Diplomatic Relations with Saddam, and to permit him to import certain chemicals which could be used to gas his opponents (hypocrisy in politics is not vice!)

4) Iraq is free now but at a terrible cost, 1700 American troops were killed so far, at according to the New England Journal of Medicine, 50,000 to 100,000 civilians have been killed so far

5) Our intelligence has been a disaster, and in a recent interview with the German Magazine, "Der Spiegel, Colin Powell sadly announced how he was mislead by US intelligence, when he made his presentation at the United Nations

6) The Madrid train bombing and the the recent bombing of the subways in London, probably both by Al Queda, were the result of this war!

7) The war continues and might continue for close to five years, according to Rumsfeld, the cost is a staggering 80 billion dollars a year

8) You voted to make the Bush tax cuts permanent. Do you know of a single case in history of a tax cut in rimes of war?

As a representative of my district, it is imperative that you stay well informed. According to your letter you are not!

Sincerely