P.E.A.C.E. 

The following letter recommending the establishment of a cabinet level Peace Advisor position was sent from P.E.A.C.E. Inc., to President George W. Bush.  There was no reply.

June 11, 2001

President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear President Bush,

In your recently announced White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, you have taken a bold and controversial step.  We will learn together if the results of your desire to reap the fruits of effective social service programs that are enriched by the energy of faith-based compassion will pass the constitutional tests that are being raised.

The purpose of this letter is to recommend that you take another bold step and announce the establishment of a new position, the president's Peace Advisor.

The Peace Advisor will have cabinet and ambassadorial rank.  She or he will report directly to you about opportunities to advance domestic and global peace.

The uniqueness of this position is that it will be the first cabinet level position in the history of the United States that specifically is responsible to balance the interests and desires of the country with the needs of the world.

Who speaks for peace?  There is no dedicated spokesperson for peace in the U.S. government.  A number of senior people speak ABOUT peace, but no one has the designated responsibility to speak FOR peace.

We believe that an advocate for peace should sit at the highest level of government policy making.  A voice for peace should be heard on every issue that could result in either more or less violence of man to man, and man to environment.

No new government bureaucracy will be required to support this position.  The president's Peace Advisor will depend upon thousands of issue related non-government organizations to provide factual, scientific and spiritual support.  This will add a host of new voices currently not heard in the Oval Office, and begin to provide balance to the powerful voices that long ago captured the attention and loyalties of all current cabinet positions.

This will be a demanding and challenging position, but its potential value will be worth any effort required to bring the issues of sustainable peace and sustainable development to the same levels that currently are held by traditional approaches and institutions of national security.

The facts are that the traditional approaches to and institutions of national security are failing.  President Eisenhower finally got it right when he said, "War settles nothing."  Your father, Vice President Cheney and Secretary Powell can give powerful testimony to this.  Despite the technological brilliance and individual bravery demonstrated in Desert Storm, the unrepentant threat from Baghdad remains a very dangerous unknown.

Peace is much more complex and vexing than war.  We may be in a very dangerous and ultimately fatal loop of resorting to violence because we are the dominating power in the world.  

Regretfully, no one in government has the responsibility of developing and implementing peace strategies.   We do have a huge and very talented group responsible to develop and execute war strategies.   Surely that cannot mean that we desire war more than peace.  Some balance is badly needed, and a good first step to achieve this will be for you to have a Peace Advisor.

We now come full circle to link your Faith-Based and Community Initiative with the Peace Advisor position.  If there is one subject that links the spiritual beliefs of the world, it is the hope for peace, the faith that the goodness of man will rise to overcome the passions of violence, fear and suspicion.  Countless prayers in every language beseech God to grant peace to the earth, to replace hatred with love and fear with hope.

Are these prayers unheard, or are we praying for something that is our responsibility?  Elie Wiesel has said clearly, "Mankind must remember that peace is not God's gift to his creatures: peace is our gift to each other."

President Bush, there is a huge amount of untapped faith and belief that peace at home and around the world is as possible as it is essential.  Give that body of energy a focal point in your administration.  Your Peace Advisor will be the link that invites the best ideas and programs to compete with current institutions and procedures that are deficient in viewpoint and not doing the job that is necessary if humanity is going to survive.

Your Peace Advisor will need to be a powerful, experienced, patient and compassionate person to serve you and the responsibilities of the position. The good news is that there are people with the qualifications needed to do this job.  We can provide a short list of qualified candidates.

When your announcement and appointment is made, the approving public response will amaze you.  It will also dismay some of your political supporters and bewilder your detractors, some of who are saying you want to rekindle the Cold War.

Of course, the Peace Advisor concept would be much more powerful if, by your leadership, example and encouragement, your counterparts around the world also appointed Peace Advisors.  A network of Peace Advisors could provide a symphony of voices for peace in a world assaulted by the discouraging and discordant sounds of violence.

We will be at your service to assist in any way we can.  Our full-time commitment is to bring into operation a global system of Centers for Sustainable Peace and Development, a new institution of peace.  In this undertaking we look forward to a long-term supportive and fruitful relationship with your Peace Advisor, and the Peace Advisors around the world.

 

 

 

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Reviewed July, 2008

 

email:  sherlight@peaceroom.com