Yes You Can, Mr. President!

Dear President Obama:

Sometimes, the answer is so obvious you can miss it. As the only Native American woman running in the 2010 midterm elections and being of tribal descent; I urge to you to resurrect your can-do attitude on Afghanistan. It is not unreasonable to adapt the strategy you used to transform the political landscape and turn the course of our country.

You can do the same in Afghanistan. Afghans, and the entire region--are awaiting the leadership they know you are capable of. Your strengths in the campaign and in captivating a global audience has been your message of inclusiveness. Recently on Fareed Zakaria's GPS; former Pakistan President Perez Musharraf discussed the need to enfranchise the Pashtun tribes into the governance of the nation.

A lawfully correct end to this illegal war cannot be viewed as a failure, or a defeat; I have learned through a lifetime of experiences one key survival strategy. That is to turn your disadvantages into advantages. You were disadvantaged by a prior administration to come in and fix an ill conceived crisis. Take the humane course of action. Democracy can take root in Afghanistan if all the players know they have recourse, respect, and the support of the international community.

You are President because we all agreed the prior holder of your office engaged in failed and dangerous policies. We elected the change you represented. Now is the time to hold the U.N. and the international community to a higher standard to monitor the fragile region and restore some standard of living, and the prospect of human rights.

I urge you to provide leadership to the international community, with the ulitmate demand for free and open elections from the Karzai government. End the practice of backing failed state dictators, as is the pattern of prior administrations. George Bush went into this conflict as a pariah, you are a better man. Please use this issue as one of your now famous "teaching moments," on how to discontinue prior failed policies.

Armed conflict is not a viable answer to address the conditions that bred extremism to begin with. I call on you to end the morally bankrupt misuse of the War Powers Resolution Authorization extended by Congress on the heels of the 9/11 attack.

The manner in which George Bush engaged this conflict is a stain on the history of our nation: from defying the UN Security council, who classified the 9/11 as a terrorist attack, and not an act of war--to the misuse of Article 5 of the NATO pact. Worse still, Bush invoked the same Kellogg Breand Pact of 1928 used by defense lawyers for Nazi defendants during the Nuremburg trials. The War in Afghanistan has been waged against stateless people; people who themselves have been victims of terrorism and aggression--by both terror organizations and states.

It is time to end this war of retaliation, vengeance and cultural bigotry. When this war started in 2001--there were those that worried that terminating statehood of Muslim nations, was in fact the aim of the Bush administration. There were the brave lawyers who stood up and questioned this as an act of outright genocide. It is an undeniable reality now, not only is Afghanistan as a failed state; but the world fears, and rightly so, the slow devolution of Pakistan. Wise people could see this coming, and they questioned.

The Bush administration has created a humanitarian crisis--it is upon your shoulders to restore a humane policy toward this region. There is no victory to be had, as this was never a legitimate war. You must however, rise to the challenge of leading the way for the international community to work at stabilizing this troubled region. As the Soviets, and now the American people have learned--military force is no recourse. The people of this region live in a continual state of war. No child should have to live like that; with no hope of a peaceful future.

Melinda Gopher, Candidate for the U.S. House, MT 2010