Rep. LoBiondo Wrong on the War

Recently, our local Iraq war cheerleader, Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-2nd, appeared on area talk-radio shows. His basic message was “if we don't fight the terrorists over there, we'd have to fight them over here.” This is the latest in a long line of Bush administration excuses for why more than 2,100 American soldiers have died in Iraq. The problem is it doesn't hold up. The war has created far more new terrorists than it has eliminated. The war has also created new sanctuaries for terrorists where none existed before, because under Saddam Hussein, al-Qaida was not welcome in Iraq. And in the long run, the war will allow Iran's influence to grow, because the new rulers in Iraq are Shiite, the same as the terrorist-supporting Iranian rulers. The implication of “fight them there” is that our young men and women have been set up as targets, as decoys, to draw out terrorist fighters so we can kill them. I don't think that is why most of our brave soldiers signed up for the military, to be targets or sitting ducks.Finally, there is no proof that if we withdrew from Iraq, the terrorists would start fighting over here. What are we spending billions on homeland security for if not to stop terrorists' threats here? Wouldn't it be more likely that the Iraq insurgents would be kept busy by the inevitable civil war that will follow our eventual withdrawal?It is time that the Democrats in the 2nd Congressional District to run a credible candidate against LoBiondo — a candidate who opposes the Iraq war, so that voters next year can have a chance to send LoBiondo a message. He sure isn't listening to us now.

NORM COHEN

Linwood

Executive Director

Coalition for Peace and Justice

Letter published in Press of Atlantic City, December 1, 2005

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/opinion/letters/story/5735090p-5752381c.html