Under ordinary circumstances it would be an honor for Furman University to be visited by the President of the United States. However, these are not ordinary circumstances. In the spirit of open and critical review that is the hallmark of both a free democracy and an institution of higher learning, we, the undersigned members of the Furman University community, object to the following actions of the Bush administration:
• Claiming a linkage between Iraq and 9-11, and exaggerating the threat of weapons of mass destruction, to justify a new and morally questionable strategy of "pre-emptive warfare" against Iraq - a country that did not attack us and posed no immediate international threat;
• Classifying war prisoners as "detained nonmilitary combatants" to permit their detention and interrogation in violation of our own laws and standards of human decency;
• Sowing fear and using "threat levels" to side-step the Constitution and justify the erosion of individual liberties, such as challenging the Fourth Amendment (wiretapping without authorization of law) and the First Amendment (denying access to information and restricting dissent to "free speech zones");
• Suppressing or ignoring empirical evidence that contradicts administration ideology, such as denying global warming and then obstructing progress on reducing greenhouse gases while favoring billions in tax breaks and subsidies to oil companies that are earning record profits;
• Installing lobbyists for the coal, timber, and mining industries as the chief officials in charge of managing and protecting our public lands;
• Encouraging reckless over-spending (creating the largest deficits in history), expanding the reach of national government into local affairs (No Child Left Behind), and increasing our involvement overseas at the expense of domestic concerns (reconstructing New Orleans).
We are ashamed of these actions of this administration. The war in Iraq has cost the lives of over 4000 brave and honorable U. S. military personnel, wounded more than 13,000 military personnel so severely that they are unable to return to duty, killed tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians, will cost more than 2 trillion dollars, and has severely damaged our government's ethical and moral credibility at home and abroad. Because we love this country and the ideals it stands for, we accept our civic responsibility to speak out against these actions that violate American values.
Cosigners, in alphabetical order:
William Aarnes
Ken Abernethy
Gilbert Allen
William Allen
Brannon Andersen
Catherine Anderson
Erik Anderson
Margaret Antonik
John Armstrong
Tony Arrington
Joe Ashley
Laura Baker
Alison Baraty
John Barrington
John Batson
Virginia Batts
Kyle Beaulieu
Lloyd Benson
Jessica M. Berkey
Alex Berrios
Karni Bhati
Temi Bidjerano
Monica Black
Albert Blackwell
Christopher Blackwell
Anna Beth Bonney
Michael Borer
David Bost
Ali Boyd
Chris Bradt
Charles L. Brewer
Terri L. Bright
Michael Brodeur
Kat Brown
Alan Bryson
Rhett Bryson
Tom Buford
Marie Burgess
Todd Campbell
Margaret Caterisano
Tony Caterisano
Victoria Chevalier
Jane Chew
Jean Childress
Erik Ching
Tom Cloer
Lisa Colby
Jenny Colvin
Steve Compton
Elizabeth Cooke
Shana Coshal
Robert W. Crapps
Janis Crowe
Stanley Crowe
Vaughn CroweTipton
Angel Cruz
Jeannette Cruz-Elledge
Doug Cummins
Pete Demarco
Sarah Dyer
Jim Edwards
Gil Einstein
Philip L. Elliott
Abby Elsener
Brian Emerson
Carmela Epright
Beth Evans
Julie Eyster
Mary Fairbairn
Timothy Fehler
Chelsea Feustel
Danielle Fisher
Gwyn Fowler
Cathy Frazier
Ronald J. Friis
Leslie Fuller
McMillan Gaither
David Gandolfo
John M. Garihan
Annie Garrett
Craig S. Gibson
Matthew Bryan Gillis
Graham Gilson
Gale Goodwin
Dustin Gourdin
Sallie Grant
D. Jonathan Grieser
Nancy Griffeth
Judy Grisel
David Gross
Erin Hahn
Dennis Haney
Cort Haldaman
Jennifer Haldaman
John Harris
Seth Harrison
Vincent Hausmann
Joanna Hawley
Susan Head
A. Scott Henderson
Maryanne Henderson
Leslie W. Hicken
Jimmy Hoke
Angela Hollis
Larry Hudson
Michael Huntsberger
Beth Hupfer
Hannah Jefferies
Gene Johnson
Lore Johnson
Edward Jones
Mary Margaret Jones
Sofia Kearns
Jordan Keels
Mark W. Kellogg
Bob Kelly
Elizabeth G. Kelly
Martha Kimmel
Cynthia P. King
Joe M. King
Lisa Knight
Jessie Koerner
Daniel Koppelman
Jennifer Lantz
Sandra Larson
Anne Leen
Nick Leitner
Adrienne Lemon
Aaron Lenox
Richard Letteri
Greg Lewis
Min-Ken Liao
George Lipscomb
Jason Long
Jane Love
Angelica Lozano-Alonso
Kristy Maher
Rebecca Maner
Adrian Massei
Shelly Matthews
Tamara Matthews
W. Duncan McArthur, Jr.
Austin Wesley McCain
Natalie McClearn
Madison McClendon
Melinda Menzer
Karen Metcalfe
Melissa Metcalfe
Elisa Miller
Caitlin Montgomery
Justin Moore
Lisa Mulvey
Susan Munkres
Scott Murr
Savita Nair
Elaine Nocks
Bonnie O'Neill
Jay Oney
Evelyn Onofrio
Sean Patrick O'Rourke
David B. Parsell
Willard Pate
Harlan Patton
A.J. Pawlikowski
Patricia Pecoy
Travis Perry
A. Joseph Pollard
Beth A. Pontari
Frank Powell
Joel Prather
Chris Priedemann
Ann Quattlebaum
Nicholas Radel
Bill Ranson
Paul Rasmussen
David Redburn
Kathryn Rhyne
Steve Richardson
Shirley A. Ritter
Emily Robinson
Brenda J. Roche
Bobby Rode
Carly Roessler
Bill Rogers
David Rutledge
Lane Salter
Renita Schmidt
Eva Sclippa
Pongracz Sennyey
John Shelley
Brian Siegel
George W. Singleton
Rachel Smidt
John Snyder
Bing Somers
Alma Steading
Cinnamon Stetler
Kathy Strother
Judy Stuart
Michael Svec
Emily K. Sweezey
Alfons Teipen
Adam Tenke
Joseph Tenini
Paul Thomas
Elizabeth Tilley
Annette Trierweiler
Brian Tropiano
Victoria Turgeon
J. David Turner
Grace Tuschak
Bingham Vick,Jr.
Kira Vine
Robin Visel
Steven Walter
Adrian Ward
Ashley Warlick
Marie Watkins
Victoria Welborn
Harrison Welch
Carolee Wende
Norman E. Whisnant
David White
Quinton White
Claire Willis
Sarah Worth
Wade Worthen
Laura Wright
Mark Yates
Ed Yazijian
Libby Young
