Face truth

Neither the president nor the Congress will face the truth. They have created a situation in Iraq that we are now powerless to control. They have spent $350 billion destroying the infrastructure of that country and so disrupted the lives of its citizens that millions have gone into exile to escape the bloodshed and chaos the U.S. invasion has created. President Bush and Congress have ignited the smoldering fires of sectarian hatred that have erupted into civil war. We have suffered 3,000 U.S. casualties while policing this bitterly divided country, a mission that our troops were neither trained for nor authorized by Congress to undertake. Our continuing presence serves only to hinder the stabilizing of Iraq and ending this violence. That task must be left to the Iraqis. Peace can only come through negotiations conducted by the contending factions without outside interference. Hopefully, they will find leaders possessed of greater wisdom and foresight than those who led us into this disaster. We have needlessly sacrificed the lives of 3,000 young Americans. We must not allow this senseless bloodletting to continue while Bush and Congress seek ways to save face. We must demand that Congress exercise its constitutional duty and cut off funding for this failed adventure at once. Leonard Satz, Blackwood - Courier Post, Jamuary 6, 2007