Letter to the Editor

‘A war in Iraq that never should have been’

As you read this letter there is a young American man or woman alive and well, serving with our military in Iraq. By the end of this day that young person will be dead — a casualty of the war. For what has this person sacrificed their life?
We are told by those who wanted, and continued to want this war, that Iraq is a threat to our national security. This may be true now that we have destroyed Saddam Hussein, who has n friend to Al Qaida or Muslim extremist. But at the time of our invasion there was no substantial reason to go to war against Iraq.
The real reasons for this war are: 1) George Bush’s family feud with Saddam Hussein. Note how quickly Saddam was captured and his two sons were killed. 2) The desire of US oil interest to maintain an influential presence in this oil rich country. If dates were Iraq’s only natural resource we would not be there. 3) The attempt to protect Israel by showing our military strength in the Middle East. If we want to help Israel we should help them seek a just solution to their differences with the Palestinians.
Bush had decided before 9/11 to get rid of Saddam Hussein. 9/11 supplied a convenient excuse for the invasion of Iraq and the destruction of Saddam. Americans were shocked and angered by 9/11 and we were looking for someone on whom to vent our anger. Bush used our anger to go after his personal enemy. Anyone in Congress who did not agree with the invasion of Iraq was considered to be unpatriotic at that time. Such was our anger that we would have gone to war with the Eskimos in Bush had pointed them out as the enemy.
The fact is that we are in a war in Iraq that never should have been and the situation is not good for a successful outcome. The situation will not get better because we are there for the wrong reasons. It is not worthy of our great nation that we have invaded a sovereign country and murdered its leader, no matter how reprehensible that leader might be. It is not worthy of our great nation that we have destroyed much of Iraq and by our actions have unleashed a civil war that threatens to destroy what remains of that country.
There are those who claim that our national pride is at stake in this war and therefore we must continue until we have salvaged our pride. If we are continuing this war to save our pride then we are definitely on the wrong path. Is pride a sufficient reason to sacrifice your son or daughter? If not, do you think someone else’s son or daughter should be sacrificed for your pride?
The Iraqi’s themselves must solve the question about who is to govern their country. We do not own the right to make that decision for them. It is time to get out of Iraq not because we can’t win, but because we should not have started this war in the first place and common decency demands that we own up to this. The way out is to admit our errors and do what we can to right the wrong that we have done. This will require letting go of our pride. Not something that is easy for the strongest and wealthiest nation on earth to do, but in that admission is our salvation. Our world leadership role demands that we be big enough to admit our errors. The American people were duped into this disgraceful use of our strength. The lost lives of our service men and women and the obscene expenditure of our wealth in this cause is unacceptable. It is time to put an end to our involvement in the whole disgraceful business.
In its simplest form our plan to withdraw should say – Iraqis, you have to fight this out among yourselves. When you decide who is to govern your country we will rebuild what we have destroyed. Better that our wealth and technology be used in a constructive way than in the way of war. This we can do.
However, there is still a war that we must fight and it is against those who have declared a religious war against us and attacked our country on 9/11. We must pursue this fight with everything we’ve got to bring to justice those who perpetrated and sympathize with the 9/11 attack and continue to declare us as their enemy. This pursuit must be ongoing and relentless. It is a fight that is worthy of us and we should put all our strength into the task. We should not be distracted from the war on our real enemy by a president who is using the wealth and strength of our country to go after his personal goals.

Bill Meacham,
Chesterfield