Letter to John Edwards

Hey, y'all

I want you to know that as a native North Carolinian, I have been supporting John Edwards' campaign. Awhile back, I wrote a blog about why on my blog, Femifesta.

But now I have a big problem with some things John has said, and some other things he hasn't said. Can you give me some answers?

Recently, in reaction to all the neocon hype about Iran (all of which is based on information just as accurate and honest as the hype about Iraq before the war), John Edwards said that "nothing is off the table" in terms of military action against Iran. We interpret that to mean nuclear weapons are "on the table".

I will not support nor vote for any candidate who will not pledge to keep nuclear weapons off ANY and EVERY table. If John has so little faith in his ability to find diplomatic solutions to problems (here and now in the 21st century) then I don't think he's the man to be president of the world's leading weapons maker and aggressor.

Another issue that I would like for John to address is the existence of Blackwater USA (http://www.blackwaterusa.com/) in our home state of North Carolina. Founded by Erik Prince, a former Navy Seal and "billionaire right-wing fundamentalist Christian from a powerful Michigan Republican family" he is a "major Republican campaign contributor, ... interned in the White House of President George H.W. Bush and campaigned for Pat Buchanan in 1992. He founded the mercenary firm Blackwater USA in 1997 with Gary Jackson, another former Navy SEAL." http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Blackwater_USA

I'd like to know what John, an outspoken opponent of the Iraq war who cannot possibly support a mercenary organization like Blackwater--which operates outside any code of military, civil or Geneva Convention law--is doing to shut down this aberration. Clearly Governor Easley has lost his mind and has begun selling our precious state to big business--I need to know what action presidential candidate John Edwards has taken against the war machine right at home.

How can I believe that President Edwards will be a Peace President if he isn't working on these two peace issues right now in his campaign?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Your fellow North Carolinian,

Kit Kimberly