President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. President:
As a young man I was honored to serve our nation as a commissioned officer and helicopter pilot in the U. S.
Navy. Before me in WWII, my father defended the country spending two
years in the Pacific aboard the U.S.S. Hornet (CV-14). We were patriots
sworn ‘to protect and defend’. Today I conclude that you have
dishonored our service and the Constitution and principles of our oath.
My dad was buried with full military honors so I cannot act for him.
But for myself, I return enclosed the symbols of my years of service:
the shoulder boards of my rank and my Naval Aviator’s wings.
Until
your administration, I believed it was inconceivable that the United
States would ever initiate an aggressive and preemptive war against a
country that posed no threat to us. Until your administration, I
thought it was impossible for our nation to take hundreds of persons
into custody without provable charges of any kind, and to ‘disappear’
them into holes like Gitmo, Abu Ghraib and Bagram. Until your
administration, in my wildest legal fantasy I could not imagine a U.S.
Attorney General seeking to justify torture or a President first
stating his intent to veto an anti-torture law, and then adding a
‘signing statement’ that he intends to ignore such law as he sees fit.
I do not want these things done in my name.
As a
citizen, a patriot, a parent and grandparent, a lawyer and law teacher
I am left with such a feeling of loss and helplessness. I think of
myself as a good American and I ask myself what can I do when I see the
face of evil? Illegal and immoral war, torture and confinement for life
without trial have never been part of our Constitutional tradition. But
my vote has become meaningless because I live in a safe district drawn
by your political party. My congressman is unresponsive to my concerns
because his time is filled with lobbyists’ largess. Protests are
limited to your ‘free speech zones’, out of sight of the parade. Even
speaking openly is to risk being labeled un-American, pro-terrorist or
anti-troops. And I am a disciplined pacifist, so any violent act is out
of the question.
Nevertheless,
to remain silent is to let you think I approve or support your actions.
I do not. So, I am saddened to give up my wings and bars. They were
hard won and my parents and wife were as proud as I was when I earned
them over forty years ago. But I hate the torture and death you have
caused more than I value their symbolism. Giving them up makes me cry
for my beloved country.
-Joseph W. DuRocher
Joseph
DuRocher was for 20 years the elected Public Defender of Florida’s
Ninth Judicial Circuit, covering Orange and Osceola counties. Since
retirement, he’s been writing and teaching law at the University of
Central Florida and the Barry University School of Law. He was a
commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy in the 1960s, serving as a Naval
Aviator in the Atlantic, the Caribbean and the Mediterranean. On
Monday, Mr. DuRocher returned his Lieutenant’s shoulder bars and Navy
wings to President Bush, and enclosed the following letter. Mr.
DuRocher can be reached at: PDJWD@aol.com.