Thursday, March 22, 2007 Dear Mr. Bush: The 60th day of a water-only hunger strike by Dr. Sami Al-Arian! Let me see you try not eating for _three_ days. Try it during Holy Week. Dr. Al-Arian is in critical condition, having lost 53 pounds, over 25% of his body weight. According to family members who recently visited him he is no longer able to walk or stand on his own. What a travesty of justice! As an employed resident of South Florida for 35 years, I have followed with interest the situation with Dr. Al-Arian from the beginning. During my time teaching in Florida, I have attended USF as have many of my students and I am associated with several Professors of English there. I traveled to Tampa to demonstrate in his favor twice since this terrible adventure began so long ago. You must know that the charges against him are specious. Everyone outside of the prejudiced and angry mob who demanded his resignation and incarceration knows he is innocent of sedition and treason. Any American of reading knows the actual situation between Israel and Palestine. Any American with a heart favors the powerless oppressed. Any American not wholly brainwashed by the Murdoch-owned media believes that Dr. Al-Arian is being unjustly punished for a crime he did not commit. Even Amnesty International has declared that Dr. Al-Arian is a Prisoner of Conscience. There should be no such prisoner in this country. His horrible treatment accords only with the extreme paranoia generated by the current regime of which you are the leader. I pray that your conscience be not deadened by the din of war and that you will have compassion on this brilliant man, Al-Arian. Please do not allow him to be tried again in Virginia in front of a hard-hearted and prejudiced judge, Gerald Lee. Please do not allow our penal system to punish Dr. Al-Arian a single day more. If he dies or is permanently damaged by his hunger fast, his life and those of his wife and children must be added to the heap of lives destroyed by us. No fear justifies such appalling disregard for our obligations to be humane, brave, and just. Free Dr. Al-Arian now. Sincerely, Drs. John & Karen Dwyer