Dear Mr. President:

As a Gold Star daughter (Stf. Sgt. David P. Spears, Panel 9E, Line 71), I hold very dear all that this country has granted me in the way of freedoms.

As someone who has taught First Amendment Rights at Central Washington University, I hold very dear the ability to write and speak thoughtfully about the rights and wrongs of this country.

As a former journalist and the current author of ten books, both fiction and non-fiction, I hold very dear those that call out the rights and wrongs throughout the world, holding to accountability those in power.

And it is in that spirit that I am extremely disappointed that your administration, an administration I have prayed for, supported financially, and been ever so grateful for, has now ruled that those responsible for the butchering of WaPo reporter Jamal Khashoggi should not be held to account.

This is a terrible move on your administration’s behalf. It shows that those in power, those with money, can go about butchering those who uphold all that this country stands for and they will suffer no consequences for such a heinous act.

It’s bad enough that Merrick Garland (your worst decision to date) will not hold Trump accountable. Now you all decided that the Crown Prince, who absolutely has blood on his hands from Jamal’s murder, will not be held to account?

To quote one of your favorites, this action leaves me agreeing with Seamus: “It is difficult at times to repress the thought that history is about as instructive as an abattoir; that Tacitus was right and that peace is merely the desolation left behind after the decisive operations of merciless power.”

I am beyond disappointed in this decision. I find it totally indefensible. You can and must do better.

Respectfully,

Karen Spears Zacharias

Letter sent to the White House on Friday, Nov. 18, 2022