7/28/05

To:

President George W. Bush
First Lady Laura Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington DC, 20500

Senator Patty Murray
Washington DC Office
173 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington DC, 20510

Senator Maria Cantwell
Washington DC Office
717 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510

Representative Rick Larsen
Washington DC Office
107 Cannon House Office Building
Washington DC 20515

I am writing to all of you to request you invest a great deal of time and energy into influencing the outcome of the drafting of the new Iraq constitution so that it provides for the rights of half of that country's population- women.

The United States has invested precious lives, time and money for the stated purpose of freeing the people of Iraq- please let the concept of "people of Iraq" include its women.

Allowing all Iraqi women the right to vote and be free does not require all women to vote or exercise the same legal rights that men have- those women who choose to not vote or exercise legal rights for religious or other reasons may simply do just that.

Our country would be morally negligent to stand by and allow men claiming to be only following their religion to deny women of other religions their rights as equal human beings.

Thank you, I am sharing this with my friends and asking them to also write their representatives.

Cynthia Jardot

17109 Theodorsen Lane

Mount Vernon, WA 98273