[Editor's note: On December 1, 2001, the
Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan sent a letter to President George W.
Bush relative to the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center and Pentagon
attacks and the American government's declared War on Terrorism.
Though the correspondence was meant as a private matter, Jude Wanniski,
a former associate editor of the Wall Street Journal and friend of the
Minister, who tried using his contacts to get the Minister's letter
directly into the hands of President Bush and Secretary of State Colin
Powell, released it publicly, without the Minister's consent. Mr.
Wanniski was concerned, however that there was no response after 10
weeks that the letter had been sent. After the Attack on America
on September 11, Minister Farrakhan held a press conference on September
16th, and it was at this press conference that the Minister said he
would write President Bush, and, it took him almost two months to write
the letter. Since the letter has been made public, Minister
Farrakhan referred to it in his February 17th Saviours' Day 2002 address
in Los Angeles. The letter is printed below in its entirety.]
December 1, 2001
George W. Bush, President of the United States of America
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue N. W.
Washington, DC 20500
As-Salaam Alaikum.
(Peace Be Unto You)
Dear President Bush,
May this letter find you, your family and staff in the best of health
and spirit in spite of the prevailing circumstances.
I am Minister Louis Farrakhan, National Representative of the Honorable
Elijah Muhammad, whom I believe Allah (God) raised among the Black
people of America to teach us Islam as a means of our reformation and
resurrection. He was also raised by Allah (God) as a Warner to the
government and people of the United States of America. I sit in His seat
by Allah's (God's) and His permission, therefore, His Mission is my
Mission, and, it is out of my sense of mission and duty that I write.
I am deeply concerned for our country, and, I am deeply concerned for
you.
I used the possessive pronoun our, because the blood of my ancestors
soaks this soil and their blood has been shed on every foreign
battlefield for the preservation of this nation. Therefore, we as a
people feel a deep sense of ownership of America as much as any
American. It is also out of this deep sense of concern and ownership
that I write to you.
I write you from my prison. A prison without bars that has been made for
me because of the passion for truth and justice out of which I speak,
and, the propaganda that makes me appear to many as anti-White,
anti-Christian, anti-Semitic, and anti-Gay. None of these names
accurately describe who I am. I hope that you will open your heart to
what I am writing not withstanding the prison from which I am writing.
Since Adam, there has not been one person or nation with power and
dominion over the whole earth. This is the awesome position that America
holds by Allah's (God's) permission.
This indeed is a great trial for you and for America, because, when
Allah (God) allows anyone of us to rule over His servants and a great
part of His creation, He does so to see how we act. If we act well, He
will not replace our rule; however, if we allow the power, wealth, and
wisdom that we possess over Allah's (God's) servants and creation to
blind us so that we act other than as Allah (God) would desire us to
act, then, He acts through the forces of nature and through people to
overturn our rule.
This is a very dangerous Hour, but, it is an Hour filled with great
opportunity. What is needed in this Hour is Right or
Divine Guidance. This Guidance must be in
accord with the Time and what this Time demands.
It is written in the Book of Revelation "The nations were angry,
and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be
judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the
prophets and to the saints, and them that fear thy name,
small and great, and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. "
(Chapter 11 verse 18)
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said, "We are living in the Day of
Judgment." This is what is producing the anger of the nations and
the Wrath of Allah (God). This is the time that those who have been
deprived of justice must receive justice, for, it is only our
acting on the principle of justice that will ease the anger of the
nations and take away the Wrath of Allah (God). There can be no
Justice without Truth, and, there can be no Peace in
the world without Justice.
As a nation, America is blessed with wealth, wisdom, science,
technology, and, abundance. America is also blessed with the awesome
power to destroy nations of people. In order for you and America to
receive the greatest of Allah's (God's) Blessings, which is the
longevity and perpetuity that former great nations and
empires have not enjoyed, you must rule according to the Will and the
Way of Allah (God).
Mr. President, you and this nation stand in the position of the
Vicegerent of Allah (God). (The person or nation that rules the earth in
the place of Allah (God)). This is why America must rule the
world as Allah (God) Himself would rule, for, she is now standing in His
place by His permission.
Allah (God) also has awesome power to destroy. He is called The
Possessor of Power over all things, and, He is also called The
Destroyer, The Avenger. However, none of these attributes are His
principle attributes. All of His attributes of might and power to avenge
and destroy are balanced by His major attributes, which are Beneficence,
Mercy, The Nurturer - of all things making them attain stage after stage
until they reach perfection, and, King or Judge - who judges with
justice. These are the four greatest attributes of Allah (God).
If America is to be truly triumphant in this Hour, these four great
attributes must give balance and direction to America's awesome power to
destroy and her desire to avenge the horrible act of September 11th.
When I heard you say that this act against America on September 11th has
given purpose to your administration and that you feel that it is your
mission to destroy the terrorists, their networks, those who harbor
them, and, that the awesome power of America will be used toward this
end. This, you hope will be the legacy that you leave to future
generations; you also hope that the children and the American people
will live without the fear of such evil as we experienced on September
11th. However, within these statements are my reasons for deep concern.
You have risen to the challenge of this Hour and this Hour has given you
the support of the American people and the support of most of the
nations of the earth. In my humble judgment, what you see as the purpose
of your administration must not hinder or blind you from seeing the
possibility of an even greater purpose and potential legacy.
It is out of this desire to see you fulfill that which will give you the
greatest legacy that I write to you as a humble servant appealing to a
great and powerful nation and ruler. I respectfully say to you that I
believe if you continue this effort in the way that you presently have
in mind, it will not end terrorism, but unfortunately may increase it.
On September 17, 1985, 1 had a vision-like experience where I was told
of the secret plan of President Ronald Reagan who had met with his Joint
Chiefs of Staff in early September 1985 to plan a war. I was not told
whom that war was against, but, within a few months it became clear to
me that the war was against Libya and its Leader, Muammar Gadhafi.
President Reagan on coming into office had as one of his aims the desire
to get rid of Muammar Gadhafi, and to place in the leadership of Libya a
regime more favorable to America's foreign policy interests. The desire
of President Reagan also concerned the planning of a war involving young
Black men here on the soil of America. This is what inspired me to tour
the country talking to Black men urging them to stop the killing of one
another, and, this is what eventually led to the Million Man March on
October 16, 1995. Another of President Reagan's desires was to make null
and void the treaty that was signed by his predecessor, President Jimmy
Carter, returning the Panama Canal to the Panamanian people by the year
2000.
President Manuel Noriega of Panama was demonized by the press, tried in
absentia and found guilty of drug dealing. This was used as the
justification for a violent action that was taken against Panama using
the armed forces of America. However, the real aim was to place in
Panama a government of America's choosing, and, to nullify the treaty
signed by President Carter that gave the Panama Canal back to the
Panamanian people.
During President Reagan's administration, Muammar Gadhafi was demonized
in the American press. The bombing of a discotheque in Germany was used
by President Reagan to justify the most expensive assassination attempt
in the history of this nation.
I need not bore you with the details of this because you have access to
information that will verify the truth of what I am writing.
I am writing this to show a consistent pattern of behavior of America's
Presidents, administrations, and the press with respect to those Muslim
leaders and other leaders that America has chosen to denounce as rogues,
and to use as a justification for military action to cover their real
purposes.
President Richard Nixon wrote that the enemy of democracy was not
communism, but, fundamentalist Islam. Every President since the
Nixon/Ford administration has taken some military action against a
Muslim nation. President Jimmy Carter felt that the overthrow of the
Shah of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, and his replacement with the
Islamist regime of Ayatollah Khomeini was a threat to America's vital
interests. So, Saddam Hussein was given 80 billion dollars with
America's approval by the Saudi government and the rulers of the United
Arab Emirates to make Saddam Hussein a strong military power to use him
against the rise of the so-called fundamentalist regime in Iran. During
President Carter's administration, the American Embassy in Iran was
taken and the hostage crisis began.
The effort of Jimmy Carter to free the hostages through military action
after the fall of the Shah of Iran was a failure. In the negotiations
between our government and the government of Imam Khomeini, it was
agreed that the hostages would be released, but not during the
administration of President Carter. The hostages were released in the
early days of President Reagan's administration. President Reagan also
saw Imam Khomeini and his desire that the Iranian people return to the
purity of the faith of Islam as a threat to America's vital interests in
that area of the world.
Your father fulfilled President Reagan's desire concerning the Panama
Canal. Your father also had a problem that involved Saddam Hussein and
Iraq. At the same time that he was prosecuting the war against Saddam
Hussein, a part of that conflict also involved young Black men, gangs
and drugs in America. Although the Gulf War was won by the allied
forces, Saddam Hussein remains in power and has become a fixation with
every succeeding President.
Mr. President, you have now inherited that which Presidents Reagan,
Carter, your father, and President Clinton were not able to complete.
What I have been shown is that you have decided to fulfill their
unrealized expectations.
Afghanistan is only a preliminary to a much wider war which is already
planned, and this war also has a home front aspect as
well. Should you persist in this, you will do what no Islamic Leader is
able to do. No leader of any Muslim nation can call for Jihad or Holy
War and cause the Muslim world to obey that call. The only one who can
call for such is one who sits in the position of Khalifah or successor
of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him).
Since the destruction of the Caliphate of Islam by corruption within the
ranks of Islam, and European machinations; the rise of nationalism among
Muslim nations has made it difficult and nearly impossible to unify the
Arab and Muslim world on the question of Jihad. However, Mr. President,
if you follow what you have in your mind, which many of those around you
are encouraging you to do, then, you will do what Osama Bin Ladin and no
Muslim extremist could ever do.
You will unite the Muslim world in hostility against America and Great
Britain, and, you will use your great position of power inadvertently to
call for a Holy War against the West.
You will force the more moderate Islamic regimes either not to side with
you, or to side with you at the risk of being overthrown by growing
Islamist forces within their countries.
The coalition that you are gathering will fall away from you and you
will have to pursue this war alone. I am afraid that this extended war
may take a turn that you and your advisors least expect, and involve
America in the greatest of all wars, the War of Armageddon, in which no
nation will be left out, including Russia and China.
I believe there is a better way to win. A way that may appear more
difficult, but, you will be assured of the Help of Allah (God).
The world is with you to pursue those who perpetrated this act of war
against America, and, your pursuit of the guilty parties is right and
proper. However, Mr. President, it will take great courage on your part
to look at America's policies with a critical eye, and, it will take
even greater courage to break from the policies of the past and make a
new beginning for this nation and the world.
You have sent a strong signal to the world in your statement that the
Palestinians should have an independent, sovereign state. If you pursue
this course with firmness and justice, the hot bed of terror in the
Middle East will subside. The more fair, just and equitable the solution
to the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, the more the anger of those on both
sides will subside, and, America will get the credit of settling this 53
year old problem with justice, thereby justifying America's position as
the Viceregent of Allah (God). Mr. President, with the backing of the
American people and the leaders of the world, if you reexamined policies
that are unfair and changed them, this signal to the world would bring
the world and those so-called enemies and rogue states into your and
America's sphere of influence.
Since America is peopled by the people of the entire world, and, all
have contributed to America's greatness, then, America as the world
ruler has an obligation to the entire world.
There is no need for a clash of civilizations. The Muslim World has much
to learn from the West and the West has much to learn from the Religion
of Islam.
Creating the climate for dialogue will make a great future for America,
and, under her rule a peaceful world can come into existence.
There is no nation on this earth that I know of where I would have the
freedom to speak as I do or write the Head of State as I am writing,
and, I truly appreciate this freedom.
There is no nation on this earth that offers more in the way of freedom
than this nation, however, unrighteousness is what we all should work to
overcome, because in the final analysis, it is righteousness, that will
make this nation truly great. I am appealing to you and imploring you
Mr. President to orchestrate an end to policies that are unjust.
I appreciate the privilege that I have to live in America, and, with all
her faults there is no nation on this earth where I would rather live.
However, this freedom that I enjoy under the constitution lays on me a
heavy responsibility. That is, to protect the best of this nation and to
work to overcome those weaknesses of the nation that are causing her
fall.
I have traveled to many countries and have spoken to most of the Heads
of State and Government, and, not one of them has ever said to me that
they hate the American people, but, they have said that they are
displeased with America's foreign policies.
I believe that I can be of service to you, our nation, and to all of
those whom you believe are America's enemies. I believe that all of them
can be made the friends of America. The whole world would like to have
America as a true friend, but, America can never be a true friend
of the people of the earth until and unless she rules with the Wisdom
and Spirit of Allah (God) which reflects itself in our love for
humanity, our love for truth, and our exercise of the principle of
justice.
The nations would be willing to share their resources with America with
joy if they believed that they would get a fair price for what they
produce that would allow them to raise the standard of living of their
people. There is nothing that the earth possesses that America could not
have easy access to, if America determined to rule the nations of the
earth with the principle of justice.
If America turns away from this principle and does what she is doing
because she has the power to do it, then, Allah (God) who grants power
will take it from America and bring another people in her place. This
does not have to be, but it will be based on how America conducts
herself in this Hour of her greatest trial and her greatest potential
triumph.
Mr. President, please think and pray over what I have written, and,
speak to your advisors and close friends concerning it. I pray that
Allah (God) will grant you the wisdom to see that what I am saying to
you is good and is the way to triumph over the evil and hatred that is
in the world against the United States of America.
May Allah (God) grant you the wisdom to see deeply into the Prophets'
utterances concerning this Hour.
I pray that we will be triumphant over terror and become the Friend of
Allah (God) in so doing.
Best wishes for your success.
Thank you for taking the time to read these words. I Am Your Servant in
the war against evil,
Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan
Servant to the Lost-Found
Nation of Islam in the West
