Dear Mr. Martinez: Thank you for your written response to my complaint regarding your partisan vote on withdrawal of troops from Iraq. You wrote: ______ it must be our steadfast purpose to provide our men and women currently in combat with everything they need to safely and quickly complete their mission of creating the environment for a stable democratic government in Iraq to flourish. Our ongoing efforts in Iraq constitute the most important front in the war against extremist terrorist organizations. Withdrawing our troops precipitously and leaving Iraq as a failed state would likely bring about genocidal levels of death and destruction. ________ This is exactly what I and 450 of my Neapolitan friends are totally opposed to. We no longer support our troops. That phrase, support our troops, shields you and others in our government from the probity of a good conscience. Being steadfast in what you think is your purpose in Iraq is immoral, even insane. In 1943 the members of the White Rose wrote, “We are your bad conscience.” They were asking Germans to rise above the old, degenerate concept of patriotism that entailed blindly supporting one’s government in time of war. They were asking German soldiers to rise above the old, degenerate concept of blind obedience to orders. They were asking Germans to confront openly the rumors of what German officials were doing to the Jews in the concentration camps. They were asking German citizens, both civilian and military, to make an independent judgment on both the Hitler regime and the war, to judge both the government and the war as immoral and illegitimate, and to take the necessary steps to put a stop to both. They were asking Germans to embrace a different and higher concept of patriotism — one that involves a devotion to a set of moral principles and values rather than blind allegiance to one’s government in time of war. It was a type of patriotism that involved opposition to one’s own government, especially in time of war, when government is engaged in conduct that violates moral principles and values. The story of the White Rose is one of the most remarkable stories of courage in history. You may disagree that my and my friends' position is courageous. Nevertheless, as our representative in Congress, you must not continue to mindlessly parrot the positions of the Bush administration as you have been doing in all your correspondence with me concerning Mr. Bush's war. We wholly denounce those positions. We do not support our troops in their attacks on, arrests of, murders, rapes, kidnappings, and torturing of Iraqis. Mr. Murdoch (et. al.) likes to call everyone our troops behave badly toward an "insurgent." That is a terrible veil to cast over an immoral invasion, occupation, and suppression of 21 million people. Change your support from partisan politics to conscientious representation of your constituents. The next time you are given the opportunity to vote, vote to bring our troops (as well as our mercenaries) home immediately. Forget your steadfast loyalty to Mr. Bush and his Republican friends. There is zero justification for our soldiers being in Iraq or Afghanistan.