Letter from Ray McGovern to George Bush - an invitation

[proud2BlibKansan]

July 2, 2009
President George W. Bush
10141 Daria Place
Dallas, TX 74229

Dear President Bush,

With this note I hope to make sure you know that I have been invited by
the Dallas Peace Center to lecture next Thursday evening, July 9, at a dinner
at FunAsia in Richardson. You and Mrs. Bush are cordially invited.

In my remarks I plan to focus on the subject of torture. I shall draw on
my thirty years in Army Intelligence and the CIA, as well as a lifetime of
trying to follow Jesus of Nazareth. I will take issue with your decision
of February 7, 2002 that the Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of
Prisoners of War (August 12, 1949) does not apply to al Qaeda and Taliban
detainees; and I will explore the implications of that decision.

Somehow it seemed not quite proper to come to Dallas without letting you
know this in advance. I also wanted to tell you that I would welcome a
chance to discuss these issues with you—either privately or, better still, at
the dinner itself.

Many have said they found informative the impromptu televised debate I had
with former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld three years ago in Atlanta.
On May 12 of this year, I had a similar public encounter with former
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard Myers, one of the addressees
of your executive memorandum of February 7, 2002. Our dialogue focused on
torture, and my colleagues in the Harvard Business School Club of
Washington, DC, have told me they found it instructive.

I have been less successful in personally engaging former Secretary of
State Colin Powell, even though we had sustained (every-other-morning)
professional contact during the early Eighties. I did him the courtesy of
pre-briefing him on information I was about to share during my early morning
one-on-ones with his boss, Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger—except for the
President’s Daily Brief (PDB) itself and other very sensitive materials
earmarked exclusively for President Reagan, Weinberger, Secretary of State
George Shultz, and, of course, your father, the vice president.

You are familiar with the PDB briefing process. I was on the small team
of PDB writers under Presidents Nixon, Ford, and Reagan. From 1981 to 1985
I not only helped produce the PDB, but also conducted one-on-one briefings
of the handful of senior officials designated by President Reagan. For me
it was particularly rewarding to be once again in regular contact with your
father, for whom I had worked during his brief stint as Director of
Central Intelligence.

Were you to come to the dinner next Thursday, I have little doubt that an
informative discussion would ensue—a give-and-take unfiltered by those more
interested in getting a story than in getting at the truth. I would be
happy to give you a copy of my talk beforehand, so that you would know
chapter and verse of what I intend to cover and have ample time to prepare your
side of the give and take.

If you decide to attend and wish to take me up on this, please let me know
the best way to get a copy of my talk to you.

With respect,

/s/

Ray McGovern

[malaise]

1. I'm betting Bush declines

but it would be nice if Ray's address received live coverage

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. I am sure it will be filmed

Ray is a true American hero.