An appeal of faith to President George W. Bush

michael freund,
Dear Mr. President, I am writing to you because I am afraid. I have
been closely following the rhetoric of Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad over the past few months, and I want you to know that I am
gripped with a sense of fear.
I fear for the future of Israel and for that of the entire Jewish
people, as the would-be Hitler of Persia readies to do battle against
us with the most horrific of weapons.
I fear for the future of the West, because outside of Washington, few
and far between are the leaders with the common sense and courage to
stand up to the Tyrant of Teheran.
And I fear for the future of the world, because if Iran's
fundamentalists get their hands on a nuclear weapon, it will only be a
matter of time before their extremist allies abroad become similarly
armed.
Hence, I am writing to you because I am convinced that you alone
understand and appreciate the gravity of the current situation, and I
pray in my heart that you will not let it stand.
I appeal to you now, not as a political analyst nor as a newspaper
columnist, but as one man of faith to another: Please strike Iran hard
with military force, and dismantle its nuclear weapons program, before
it is too late.
I know you believe, as I do, that God guides the destiny of men and of
nations. And I know you believe, just as I do, that He raised you up to
the helm of power precisely at this critical period, to serve as His
agent and His instrument in this world.
The God of history has chosen you, Mr. President, just as He did
Churchill, and He has entrusted you with a sacred mandate: to save the
world from the designs of a madman.
I can tell you that in Israel, a sense of dread has slowly, but surely,
begun to sink in. As the Sunday Times of London reported earlier this
week, a growing number of my fellow Jews have begun to build
underground nuclear shelters adjacent to their homes.
“The shelters,” says the Times, “are built to withstand radioactive
fallout, have fortified walls and doors and generate their own
electricity and decontaminated air.” Hundreds of such bunkers, reports
the paper, have been built in recent months, and “demand is soaring.”
Mr. President, just the other night, I went out with my family for
dinner to a restaurant in Herzliya, the city named after Zionist
visionary Theodor Herzl, who foresaw the need to establish a safe haven
for the Jewish people. Our waitress was an attractive and cheerful
young lady who moved to Israel 16 years ago at the age of four from her
native Lithuania, where her family had suffered anti-Semitism and
persecution.
But when we asked her if she was happy living here in the Jewish state,
the smile on her lips quickly faded. Glumly, she answered us with the
following words: “That Ahmadinejad of Iran, he scares me. It is a very
scary situation.” And indeed it is, Mr. President, because my people
are in danger once again. It was just six decades ago that the
Europeans tossed us into Hitler's ovens and turned 6 million Jews into
ashes. Now, with no shame, they stand by silently as Iran seeks to do
the same.
The United Nations is a lost cause, and we have no faith in Russia,
China or international institutions. The sad fact is that most of the
world will not shed a tear if Mr. Ahmadinejad succeeds in achieving his
dreadful aims.
Here in Israel, our own leadership is tired and weak. They have lost
their way, and they are no longer anchored in faith. As we saw this
past summer in the Lebanon war, they stumble about as though walking in
darkness, oblivious to the danger that stalks us all.
There is only one person now, Mr. President, who can stop this
terrifying scenario from coming to pass, and I believe that person is
you.
I think of you often, and when I do, I am guided in faith to the fourth
chapter of the Book of Esther in the Bible, where the evil Persian
court officer Haman threatened the Jewish people with extinction. After
Mordechai the Jew got wind of Haman's plot, he passed along a message
of great urgency to Queen Esther: “Who knows, perhaps it was precisely
for a moment such as this that you have attained power?” Mr. President,
that message was as compelling then as it is today, and I believe it is
clearly directed to you too. The decision you face is not an easy one,
and I do not mean to suggest otherwise. But there are moments when a
leader, like Joshua of old, must “be strong and of good courage”
(Joshua Chapter 1), and not shy away from doing what must be done.
In the case of Iran, there can be no room for retreat or for shrinking
back from the task at hand. The stakes are simply too great.
Iran can and must be stopped, and the only way to do so is through the
use of military force.
Diplomacy and resolutions are a smoke screen, and you know as well as I
do that they will not slow Iran's steady drive toward obtaining a
nuclear arsenal. Only the long and powerful arm of the United States,
flexed with all its might, can and will be able to do the job.
Sure, the critics and the nay-sayers will try to tear you down, just as
they have been doing since you the day you were elected. They will heap
scorn on you, call you a warmonger and worse, and denigrate you and
your family for many, many years to come.
But please don't allow them to deter you or to drive you to despair.
Don't let them drown out that still, small voice within, the one that
reaches into each of our hearts and calls out every day: “I am the
Lord, and there is none else” (Isaiah Chapter 45).
Mr. President, you know as well as I do that history's final verdict is
not written by academics, nor is it determined by the opinion-mongers
at The New York Times.
The one and only verdict, the one that really, truly counts, is the one
that is penned in heaven, by He Who gave each of us life. It is to Him,
and Him alone, that we will all have to answer.
In just over two years you will leave office. In the greater scheme of
things, I am convinced that your legacy will depend largely on the
decisions that you make in the coming few months about what to do with
Iran.
I urge you, I plead with you: don't walk out of the White House in
January 2009 without having stopped Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Don't leave
the fate of Israel and the Jewish people hanging in the balance.
Remember the promise that God made to Abraham in Genesis Chapter 12: “I
will bless those that bless you, and those that curse you I shall
curse”.
Note that when it comes to standing by Israel and the Jewish people,
there is no middle ground. God delineates two categories, and two
categories only: those who bless Israel, and those who curse it.
You are in a unique position to bless Israel, and through it, all of
humanity, by removing the nuclear sword from the hand of the Persian
executioner.
The same God Who spoke, and said, “Let there be light”, and there was
light, surely expects you to do nothing less.
I will be praying for you, as will many others, and I hope that you
take this message to heart.
Be strong, be strong, Mr. President, and through you, may we all be
strengthened.
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