Get out of Iraq

Pull all U.S. troops out of Iraq immediately. We never had the right or a valid reason to invade and occupy that country. We were sold a bunch of lies. There are factions of people there who have hated each other for centuries and they now hate us as occupiers. We may have had a chance to win some of them over, but Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's incompetence and idiotic policies, as detailed in Thomas E. Ricks' book Fiasco, took care of that. I feel sorry for the Iraqis, but I feel more sorry for our troops. I'm sure we've accomplished some good there, but I honestly don't care enough about electricity for Iraq to have our kids killed and maimed for it. We're creating more terrorists there than we're eliminating. It's time to move our troops to Afghanistan or Pakistan to hunt al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden, or home to help guard against terrorists. Let the Iraqis work out their system of government. I couldn't care less about "cutting and running." Our soldiers have tragically died in vain, and only a fool like President Bush allows more to be killed in vain. If oil is the concern, institute programs to force us to become self-reliant as we wave goodbye to Iraq. David Lipshutz, Voorhies - Published in the Courier Post, September 23, 2006