Dear President Bush and Vice President Cheney,

Thank you so much for all you have done for your country. I know it’s been hard on you to hear all the vicious lies that people tell about you and still fight as hard as you have for the security of the USA. Please keep it up. Please have an eye to doing the right thing; the needed thing; the wise thing, rather than the thing that will satisfy those out there that hate you, and that hate America. They’re going to hate you and America anyway. They’d sell America for a mess of pottage in a heartbeat. Many of them already have. Don’t listen to them. Listen to the people that love America. Remember Reagan’s example. He was so popular, and so successful, precisely because he wasn’t guided by polls and the news cycle, but by his convictions.

I believe in the Iraq war. It seems to me that the fierceness with which the terrorists are resisting our success there is just proof of how important it is that we succeed, and how right the choice was to go to war there. If we can help the Iraqi people set up some kind of functioning democracy, then that will put immense pressure on their neighbors to do the same. This is the argument you’ve always made, and it is the correct one. I am deeply sorry that Marines are dying by the dozens in Iraq, but better that than men, women and children by the thousands in New York. That’s why we have a military. Yes, we know that Iran and Syria and Saudi Arabia are probably a bigger source of the terrorist problem than Iraq was. But the American people (most of them, anyway) understand that you have to solve the problems you’re capable of solving, and then move on to the others. We’ve seen the effect that the Iraq war has already had on Libya, Iran and DPRK. So keep up the pressure. Keep up the good work.

A simple word of advice from a simple man from the Red states, though- don’t worry so much about blowing up mosques and the like. Don’t worry about offending the Muslims by fighting in Najaf or Fallujah. They just interpret it as weakness. It doesn’t win over any of your liberal critics. And the rest of us don’t care. We know that the reason it’s even an issue is because the people who supposedly care so much about Islam shoot at us from those mosques. So blow ‘em up. Sure, a lot of people will scream about it. But if they’re not screaming about that, they’ll just scream about something else. In a few days, it’ll be forgotten. And we’ll be closer to winning. And that’s what it’s all about. Ultimately, we need to win over there more than anything. If that involves hearts and minds, fine. But if that involves blowing up mosques, that’s fine too. The American people will be behind you. So go win.

I’m a pastor in a small church in a small town in Colorado. Every Sunday my congregation prays for you. We thank God that there are so many in government today that name the name of Christ. And we pray that you would have wisdom and courage to make the choices that you need to make. We pray that you would look not to popularity or re-election or fame or fortune or anything else as your guide. We pray that you would look to the truth of God’s word for your guide, that the wisdom of God and the love of Christ would teach you what you need to know. We’ll keep praying that prayer every day that you’re in office.

Thanks again for all you’ve done for us.

Matt Powell