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Open Letter
to the
Leaders and Soldiers
of ISIS / ISIL


Originally posted 10 Dec 2014

I am addressing both the leadership and fighting men of ISIS.

My name is Phillip Coleman. I am an American living in the United States (Gardena, California). I am writing to ask that you accept the life of an American, myself, in exchange for your releasing any American now in your custody.

I make this request because your decisions to demonstrate your determination to end American military operations inside your country by executing those whose lives you have ended has not, and will not, achieve any success because you have held the wrong people and taken the wrong lives. Those who have been executed neither possessed military or intelligence experience or knowledge, nor possessed the contacts necessary to convey your messages or desires to individuals within our government who could influence policies more favorable to your movement.

Should you accept my request to exchange myself for any American you now hold you need only to contact me directly, through the War Library, DEA Watch, the State Dept, Central Intelligence or any entity you feel safe doing so to finalize any exchange arrangement. I remain available 24/7 to communicate with you on your terms for an exchange. Upon an agreement I will ask my government to assist in expediting my delivery to a place you designate with every assurance that my delivery will in no way endanger you.

Please understand that there are millions of Americans like myself who strongly oppose military actions by our country that interferes with lives in other nations, especially in Iraq where my country wrongly caused severe injury and death.

Many Americans like myself publicly spoke out against the invasion of Iraq in 2003, against the delivery of President Hussein to his enemies, deplored publicly the permission granted by certain leaders in our country to allow President Hussein's execution, and publicly objected to the policies being carried out in Iraq by our previous President and now by President Obama.

Beginning with the cruise missile attack on a restaurant in Baghdad in 2003 where leaders in our country believed President Hussein to be dining that cost the lives of many innocent people who perished or were severely wounded, many Americans like myself have publicly protested against the needless killings of innocent people using drones by President Obama.

You must understand that it is due to the gross incompetence and inexperience of too many in my country's current leadership that has continuously bungled in military operations costing the lives of innocent people. We also have too many individuals and organizations who, for profit or ethnic reasons, desire the complete eradication of Islam. These counter-productive influences are largely funded and promoted by private industry which seeks only to profit.

Starting in 2002 when a former President began a year-long campaign of orchestrated lies and giving voice to those lies through compromised people of high public recognition to persuade the American public to invade your country, many Americans like myself publicly claimed the true purpose of that invasion was to acquire control of Iraq's oil wealth, if not for possession then for suppression. Even more recently, when our current President approved by not opposing the mission of American oil companies to acquire oil assets in the Ukraine, we publicly called for all US oil company movements in the Ukraine to be halted because continuation of that purpose would instigate bloody conflict. Added to the information obtained from an American who not long before arrived in Russia bearing extensive information on American intelligence operations and personality assessments of American leaders, President Putin has succeeded in preventing American oil companies from turning yet another country into a battleground, as has happened in so many oil-producing countries since 2000.

With regard to that American who delivered information to President Putin that helped him to accurately determine how the US and President Obama would respond to his defense planning and actions in the Ukraine, some of us had previously publicly asked President Obama to negotiate with if not provide a limited pardon to that American, then in Hong Kong but now in Russia, in order to gain his return to the US along with the information he carried. Again, through gross incompetence and arrogant stupidity our requests were denied. Instead, President Obama ordered the aircraft of another head of state grounded and searched because President Obama accepted the incredibly poor advice from incompetents that the American in Russia was fleeing aboard that aircraft to Bolivia.

I site these instances because I feel that it is important for you to know why your taking the lives of innocent Americans who have no political influence, were not associated with any American intelligence agency, and who in every case, came to your country to assist its people, not harm them, are faultless in every respect and are not associated with any policies or programs by the American government. None of those people who's lives you determined must be taken in an attempt to persuade President Obama to take a different course other than his current course, which is being terribly and wrongly advised by Americans motivated for personal or corporate profit or have anti-Islam beliefs.

For you to truly gain the attention of more Americans who will rise up to stop the current efforts by corporate and anti-Islam entities advising President Obama you must exchange innocent Americans you are holding for other Americans who have or have had military and intelligence agency experience. Persons like myself can provide substantial advice in helping to direct your efforts more productively. Again, I offer myself in exchange for any American now in your charge.

You must also understand that President Obama, neither by life experience or personal instinct, is fully competent to correctly rationalize the very bad advice influencing him. You may have mistaken President Obama for something or someone he is not. Many Americans have become keenly aware over the past six years that President Obama is more of a very persuasive preacher than he is or will ever be a president of significant wisdom. By taking the lives of innocent Americans in the hope that you can persuade President Obama to take a different course in your country will remain a fruitless exercise. Due to his limited life experience President Obama is personally incapable of performing adequately as president or Commander in Chief of US military forces and operations that could result in mission success. President Obama is a man who can better recite the scores of previous Superbowl Games than the numbers of American casualties in our wars that number fewer than Super Bowl games.

When directing your words during important events you should address the American public, not our poorly performing President who would rather spend every day golfing than working. Just as you have gotten the attention of millions of Americans by forcing the reduction of oil prices, you can get the attention of more Americans by addressing the American public. And when using an American kneeling before you, that person must be an individual like myself who by virtue of our being more representative of Americans who can, when motivated, force attention if not changes in our government's policies and practices.

Most Americans like myself have known since the invasion of Iraq that the leadership of Iraq stupidly chosen by our former President and continued by President Obama could never permanently last, and since the growth of ISIS we have felt that ISIS will inevitably become the official leadership of Iraq. However, the process of ISIS finally achieving this inevitable conclusion could be better processed with less or more constructive loss of life if more Americans can be influenced to accept a necessary inevitability rather than to foolishly use non-relevant historical examples to continue pursuing our current reckless policies in your country.

ISIS can benefit far greater by holding Americans of informational value than Americans of no material value toward your interests, needs and ultimate goals. The primary value to those who have died in your custody have been mostly to their families of which millions of Americans who are not personally associated with those families will not rise up to assist you in persuading President Obama to adopt a different course of action.

You are also making a terrible mistake in requesting money in exchange for Americans you are holding. You must understand that a President of the United States can easily and within seconds order the immediate printing of any dollar amount to be used to satisfy a ransom demand. But no American President can do that because doing so will promote a large growth in criminal organizations seeking to profit from kidnappings. Please understand that America was initially colonized by a handful of people seeking religious freedom, but the vast majority of immigrants following the initial arrivals from Europe to early America were former convicts emptied from the jails of Kings seeking to end the cost of prisoner maintenance, as well as individuals whose lives were largely dependent on some form of criminal activity. In other words, a nation originated by mostly criminals retains its criminal instincts, which is why crime is not only widespread but too often glorified in the United States. And why greed drives corporate interests not only to the point of destroying other countries to absorb their assets but also gouging and over-pricing those goods when selling them to their own fellow citizens.

When your movement in Iraq inevitably succeeds in finalizing its military campaign, ISIS will become an official government. No government will survive well and with far less internal problems, just as our country has unendingly experienced, that is based on achieving and continuing government status by having profited from activity commonly used by money-incentivized criminals and corporations.

Writing to you, soldier-to-soldier, I ask that you strongly consider my request to exchange myself for any American whose leaving your country has been restricted by you. There are ways and means that two countries that were once Allied can again become partners. Once I am in your custody I believe I can work with you to better understand the processes that have led leaders in my government to make incorrect or untimely decisions that have caused so much harm in your country.

We have in the United States too many people believing life can be profitably conducted by doing the wrong thing. People like myself who struggle through life trying to do the right thing can be of great assistance to your quest to become the official government of Iraq. I ask that you please give serious consideration to my request for an exchange of Americans.

We are men. We can communicate. We can live in peace or even as neighbors who never communicate. But as men we need not destroy nations or individual lives of innocent people. We can change the wrong course being advised to President Obama. We can get President Obama to hear you and understand your needs far better than executing Americans who mean more to their families than the three hundred million other Americans who prefer to focus only on themselves.

You have recently witnessed turmoil in our country that has resulted in the deaths of more Americans at the hands of our own police than you have executed in the videos you have released. You have also seen news reports that many Americans not only applaud and cheer those executions of unarmed Americans by police officers, but ask for more such killings. These killings demonstrate that far too many Americans have allowed war in countries like yours because they enjoy it. And they enjoy it because little to no effort has been activated to get Americans to think differently.

President Obama has repeatedly revealed in actions and events that he requires more wisdom than he can self-generate, more determination than is self-motivated and more information assistance that he has not to-date received from those who have recommended courses of action that continually fail. Equally, your executions of Americans has produced no change in American military activity.

I await your reply to my request to exchange myself for any American you have detained. I believe that your having Americans in your custody who can assist you in better communicating your needs to the American public will prevent much larger loss of life. You have made a positive step in reducing oil prices which many Americans are grateful for. You did this where President Obama refused and decent Americans serving in our Congress failed. You are in charge. You can set the agenda internationally, in the Unites States and in Iraq. You can control the future.

Most Sincerely,
Phill Coleman
10 Dec 2014
Senior Librarian, The American War Library, Since 1988
Editor-in-Chief, Drug Enforcement Agent Watch, Since 1990
Contact information is at: americanwarlibrary.com/phill
Office: 817 East Via Carmelitos, Suite 319
Long Beach CA 90805-7549
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