Dear Sister Parish Sisters and Brothers,

I was humbled and thrilled by the unexpected gift of dinner at a local restaurant presented by Ross Starkson on behalf of St. Joan's TNII Sister Parish Committee. Ross mentioned that it was to honor and to show support for my non-violent attempt to crash the Cheney/Bachmann party on Lake Minnetonka June 26. I hope you understand how important that expression of support is.

The judge subsequently dismissed the charges during preliminary jury selection on October 16. I accepted that decision with some reluctance because I was prepared for possible punitive consequences. While it is still not officially settled, the consensus is that we probably won't be recharged under a new offense.

Below is an edited statement I had prepared to make, had I been provided the opportunity:

October 16, 2006

Trial Statement

I am a 72-year-old retired teacher and an honorably discharged military veteran. I taught 34 years in the Minneapolis Public Schools. Since my retirement in 1993, I have spent much time educating what I consider the larger classroom, the community.

I would like to explain what motivates me: First and foremost I love my country and am solemnly committed to its humane and spiritual tenets. It is because of my patriotic and spiritual passion that I feel I must work to maintain our nation's precious character: That of law and compassion for fellow human beings that historically has been respected here and abroad. But I struggle to retain our country's honor.

Secondly, because of my German heritage, I have an exceedingly strong feeling of shame for Germany's pathetic failure to act up to stop the growth and destruction during that country's rise of Hitler's Nazi regime. Too many Germans remained silent. In the future, I do not want my six grandchildren to think I did "nothing" to stop our country's slide into dishonor.

Because of that sense of responsibility for my ancestral country's failure, I feel the importance of preventing my country of birth from taking the same tragic path that Germany did in the 30's. Thus, I remain motivated by the statement of that great orator, philosopher and politician of the 1700's, Edmund Burke who said, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." When we see our country acting illegally and immorally, we must speak out. I was motivated by Burke's quote to try and communicate with Vice President Cheney during his appearance at a fundraiser for Michelle Bachmann on Lake Minnetonka. The wealthy can get to speak with an administration official - one who spent thousands of our tax dollars for transportation to the fundraiser. Because I had neither the resources to pay the required $250/$1000 to speak with him nor the desire to support Ms. Bachmann's campaign, I decided to express myself through the only means available - by boat . The roads in the surrounding area had been blocked off, and as the Star Tribune noted the next day, "The vice president spoke at the fundraiser, but it was closed to the media and public. He likewise did not take reporter' questions at the airport and did not schedule any public appearances during his four-hour Twin Cities visit."

I suppose I was naïve, but I truly did think that there was a remote chance that we would have our first amendment right granted and be free to talk to our elected administration official. I had worn my Veterans For Peace shirt with a huge white dove on the front and on the back was written the statement from the United Nations Charter signed June 26, 1945 and stated: Što practice tolerance and live together in peaceŠ" Also I had on my VFP hat. Obviously I was not a threat.

For you to understand better my motivation, I believe you would be interested in learning a bit about my background. I was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to teach in Mexico from 1966 to 1968 as a professor of English. I learned a great deal about our country's failed foreign policy from that out-of-country experience, especially as it pertained to the American war in Viet Nam. Because at that time in Mexico, and later, because of our country's exploitive policies in Nicaragua by Reagan's Contras, the scorched earth policies in Guatemala and death squads in El Salvador during the same era, I felt it necessary to speak out. In 1982, with the effort of thousands around the country, we aided an enlightened and courageous congress to enact the Boland Amendment. This congressional act reduced our country's cruel involvement in Central America and eventually stopped our country's overt intervention. The Boland Amendment passed in spite of the Reagan administration's strong opposition.

Before the beginning of the Iraq occupation, I expressed my opposition to my representatives in congress. Nevertheless, the occupation has thus far resulted in the deaths of over 2700 American soldiers, thousands more wounded and at minimum, 400,000 Iraqis killed. (U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan had announced beforehand that an Iraq attack would be a violation of the U.N charter; both the present and previous Popes said that an attack would be immoral because it did not meet the "Just War" requirements; most of the main-line churches condemned the idea.)

After reviewing as much information as was available to me, I also concluded that an attack on Iraq could not justified:

1. The U.S threat from Iraq was non-existent: The United Nations' weapons inspection team of Scott Ritter, Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei reported that the threat of weapons of mass destruction did not exist.
2. Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden were enemies because of their conflicting religious beliefs and therefore obviously did not work together.
3. There were no Iraqis involved in 9/11; most were from the U.S. ally, Saudi Arabia (Should we have bombed Saudi Arabia?)
4. Because Iraq had suffered 12 years of severe sanctions imposed by the U. S. and Great Britain and from which over 600,000 children under five had died, Iraq had no access to materials to make WMD's.

Also, as I hope most now know from the 2002 Downing Street Memo, the Bush/Cheney administration and England were going to "fix" the facts to justify attacking Iraq. Cheney had set up a separate office in the Pentagon not connected to the official intelligence agencies, and used sycophants - a criminal like Chalabi and a sick and discredited "expert" like "curveball" to bolster the lies.

Before the "shock and awe" bombing on March 20, 2003, I had participated in a march on Washington DC in November of 2002, along with millions of others in many demonstrations locally, nationally and internationally. Additionally I contacted our senators and my representative. I wrote numerous articles to the newspapers and carried on an active email communication with the Veterans For Peace membership. In short, I had followed all of the prescribed procedures for trying to convince our congressional leaders and a recalcitrant administration to dissuade them from overt action. We now know from the secret Intelligent Agency report of last April that the administration tried to keep secret the fact that indeed, our arguments against invading were correct. Our occupation and destruction has metastasized and increased the number and dedication of the insurgents. It has put our country into greater danger and tragically resulted in the deaths of over 400,000 human beings.

I suggest that many of this administration's actions were criminal. Given the opportunity, I had 10 questions I wished to ask VP Cheney that all included some possible questionable ethical or legal violations.

Finally, because of my strong beliefs that we are obliged to love each other and forgive our enemies, I believe killing another is wrong as noted in the Ten Commandments, "Thou shalt not kill." During services at St. Joans, we regularly pray the following:

O God, we ask forgiveness for our failure

To raise our voices as we should.

Holy Spirit, anoint us as faithful advocates.

We pray for governments

To represent the demands of ordinary people,

Especially those who are silenced Because of poverty or gender.

We pray that the cries of the voiceless may be heard

And that all people will declare that the word of God - not the "laws" of economics - shall govern humanity.

We pray for the restoration of our broken relationships.

Amen.

In our letter to the Star Tribune the day after the arrest we (My fellow conspirator, Roger Cuthbertson and I ) wrote: "We object to the illegal, immoral and unnecessary attack on Iraq. PBS's Frontline reported that it was Vice President Cheney who promoted the lie of the existence of WMD's and the means to deliver them. He lied about the Sadaam connection to Al-Quaida, and Iraq's possession of nuclear weapons. Our nation is spending $9 billion a month to support this sham. (Minnesota has spent over $7 billion) Over 2700 U.S. troops as well as over fifty thousand innocent Iraqis are dead.

If we don't express our outrage at the aggressive invasion of a country that was no threat to the U.S, and to the principle architect of the lies that built that illegal occupation, we are complicit in war crimes. Vice President Cheney is the principal architect of this criminal war. And if it takes jumping into the water in front of the home that Chcney is visiting to get the public's attention, then so be it!