Below the bump is my letter to the editor supporting the views of MFSO. All three of my sons are home now, but there are 140,000 sons and daughters (and moms and dads) still there and that many more on their way. I am way beyond triangulation and dithering on this issue. Bring them home NOW.
It is on thing to shoot my mouth off here and another to write the same thing under my name (Andy Barnett of Stevens Point, Wisconsin), so I encourage people to make their opinions known in the non-virtual community.
Many Americans are finally coming to the realization that the invasion and occupation of Iraq was not just poorly executed, but wrong from the beginning. Continuing it will not make it right or even successful. We are less safe than when we invaded and the slow motion destruction of our military that this administration has wrought will take a decade to repair. The in-coming Congress should not focus on corruption, impeachment or any other issue until they have dealt with this matter. As a member of Military Families Speak Out (mfso.org) I fully support their message: Bring our troops home NOW and take care of them when they get here.
Our troops are clearly no longer part of the solution in Iraq. They have not been able to prevent the total breakdown of order, the growth of private armies, the bombings of schools, the religious persecution and ethnic cleansing, the kidnapping/murder of professors, doctors and government officials. Training the Iraqi Army and police (which involves only 4,000 U.S. soldiers currently) would only help if a shortage of armed Iraqis were part of the problem. There is no creditable military mission left to attempt. For a more detailed discussion, I recommend the article "Cut and Run? You Bet" By Lt. Gen. William E. Odom, which is widely available on the Internet.
We don't need an exit strategy, or a phased withdrawal over the course of another two years or yet another series of slogans from our elected officials. The military families that have sacrificed so much deserve to be treated like the precious resource that they are, not expended to preserve political capital. No more families should have to attend funerals while our leaders dither.
When our troops finally do come home, we must demand that they receive the welcome and treatment they deserve. This means more than parades, photo ops and hearty handshakes. No more under funding of the VA, no more cover-ups on Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome, no more Guard and Reserve soldiers losing their jobs, no more Swift Boating veterans when they run for office. It is not too much to ask, just more than has been delivered.