Thank you for your personal response dated Aug. 6, 2005, to my letter about the war in Iraq. I appreciate very much your impressive record of responding to constituents' letters.

However, concerning the reassurance of your trust in President George W. Bush's leadership, policies and decisions surrounding the Iraq war, I wish to respond.

It is apparent that you and many of your Senate colleagues are not keeping an open mind to alternative plans and ideas. The patter I have observed with the current Republican-dominated Congress is the preference to follow in lockstep with the current administration's rhetoric, rather than to enter into honest and open debate like you were originally elected to do.

In your letter you state, "The United States had a choice: We could ignore the threat he [Saddam] posed, and pretend that it did not risk our own security, or we could assemble a 'coalition of the willing' [COW] and remove Saddam Hussein from power."

Mr. Hatch, at that time there were many alternatives, not just "one choice" as you state. If you and the other members of Congress had done your job, these other options would have been more fully explored and debated. If only you and your cronies had listened to what the United Nations and the majority of the world leaders were saying (besides the handful of COWs); then perhaps this whole bloody mess could have been avoided. It is precisely this kind of single-minded arrogance that has permeated the Bush administration.

Even now you still prefer to repeat the worn-out campaign phrases and sound bytes as you did in your letter. Phrases such as, "Freedom is on the march," and "Saddam Hussein's brutal regime was associating with al-Qaida."

Dear Sen. Hatch, have you done your homework? A lot of stuff has come to light since the Congress passed the Congressional Resolution of Iraq in October 2003. Things like the 9/11 commission report; the Senate Intelligence Report; the Duelfer WMD report; the criminal outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame by a White House insider, and, most damaging, the Downing Street memos.

As recently as this week, you still express your unwavering support for the leadership of President Bush, his administration and his policies. Your letter asks me to "rest assured" and you want me to believe that you would never support allowing our troops to go to war if you did not feel that the mission would protect and promote freedom and democracy at home and abroad.

I remain unconvinced. You know, as well as millions of Americans, the White House's track record of distortion, leaks and faulty intelligence; yet you still refuse to ask the questions that need to be asked and enter into an honest dialogue with the Bush administration as to when our troops should come home.

Sen. Hatch, I have come to the conclusion that the Bush administration and the symbiotic Republican-controlled Senate (you included) are nothing more than power-hungry, truth-deficient people whose "get-rich-quick" war agenda backfired and has since disrupted and made the security and lives of decent hard-working people all around the world miserable, and in some cases. unbearable.

You can wrap it up in red, white and blue and call it "patriotic," but all the ribbons and bows will not shield our country from the terrible reality you have helped create.

Sincerely,

Susan Atkin

Susan Atkin is a mother of three draft-age sons and a C-SPAN junkie who writes her congressmen often. She Someone once said " If you don't vote then you can't complain" therefore, I do both.lives in West Valley City.