Letter to President Obama

Letter

Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) sent the following letter to President Obama on Monday, May 2, 2011 responding to the death of Osama bin Laden.

Dear President Obama:

I write today to express my sincere congratulations to you and your national security team for Sunday's successful military operation. The death of Osama Bin Laden will hopefully bring a greater degree of closure to the families that lost loved ones in the horrific terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and in the subsequent military conflicts our country has engaged in over the past decade. Moreover, I hope that this important milestone will provide an opportunity for reflection on the trajectory of American foreign policy since 9/11, and allow us to carefully consider how we move forward as a nation in this new era.

In your speech at West Point in December of 2009, you defined the narrowly focused policy goal that drives our military involvement in Afghanistan as "disrupting, dismantling, and defeating Al Qaeda and its extremist allies." With Bin Laden's death, and the scattering and incapacitation of the Al Qaeda terrorist network in Afghanistan, it appears that we have largely achieved our policy aims in the region. Thus, at this transformative and defining moment in our nation's history, I believe the time is right to begin a significant drawdown of the 100,000 U.S. ground troops currently stationed in Afghanistan. If this weekend's events tell us anything, it is that America's response to terrorism in the post-Bin Laden era will depend more on our intelligence and counterterrorism assets and much less on controlling large with swaths of territory with sizeable deployments of conventional military forces.

Since September 11, 2001, the fight against Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda has defined our national security policy and -- all too often -- our domestic politics. This focus has often come at the expense of other vital national interests, cherished civil rights and freedoms, and the common values that bind Americans to one another and give our nation its moral standing in the world community. It has also added over $1 trillion in direct spending on overseas wars to our national debt. As much strain as the last 10 years have put on our strategic, moral, and fiscal resources, this damage is not permanent. We are Americans, and we control our destiny.

Now is the time to end the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, while also creating a new foreign policy in which terrorism is but one issue among many that policymakers must address when it comes to keeping Americans safe. With the death of Osama Bin Laden, the Long War that began on 9/11 is finally over. It's time to bring our troops home, refocus our resources, reward the resiliency of the American people, and rededicate ourselves to rebuilding our nation.

Sincerely,

John Conyers, Jr.
MEMBER OF CONGRESS

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