Asking the Hard Questions on Iraq

Re NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE "Increased Role Sought for G.I.'s in Iraq Training" (front page, Nov. 23):

After four long, costly and deadly years, why do American troops still need to be in Iraq, in harm's way, to train more Iraqi troops? After four long years, why are still more American troops and still more American tax dollars still needed to train more Iraqi troops? Why haven't we, at the very least, trained enough Iraqi troops to train other Iraqi troops?

After four long years, why are American tax dollars still needed to equip and supply Iraqi forces? Why, after four long years, aren't Iraqi oil revenues and Iraqi treasury funds paying for Iraqi equipment and Iraqi supplies?

Why have America's leaders allowed so many American lives, limbs and dollars to be continuously sacrificed for the same endless mission? Why have America's veterans organizations so willingly supported such endless stupidity? What a sham! What a shame!

Thomas Austin

Bratenahl, Ohio, Nov. 23, 2007

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To the Editor:

Does anyone but me find it odd that the Bush administration came into office in 2001 planning an unprovoked war in Iraq; spent the next two years building a fraudulent case for launching that war; spent the next four years prolonging that war by making every mistake it could in Iraq while the war cost escalated, billions disappeared and its private contractor supporters grew filthy rich; and only now, when its five-year privatization of the war is suddenly being reined in, has magically developed its very first actual Iraq strategy, which it will finally reveal to us in March, or just in time to influence the November 2008 election?

Since most G.O.P. presidential candidates endorse all this, one would have to note that today's Republicans lend new meaning to the phrase "war profiteering." Judith Balaban Quine

Beverly Hills, Calif., Nov. 23, 2007

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To the Editor:

The information provided in "Foreign Fighters in Iraq Are Tied to Allies of U.S." (front page, Nov. 22) strengthens and adds credibility to the argument that the Bush administration's strategy in Iraq is a failed one. A significant percentage of the insurgent fighters battling American and Iraqi forces has now been identified as Saudi or Libyan.

For at least three years or since the war bogged down and became a quagmire, President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and their minions have repeatedly insisted that we are in Iraq to defeat homegrown terrorism. It has now been clearly documented that by invading Iraq and occupying the country, the actions taken by the United States have attracted foreign fighters to join the insurgency in an effort to drive the Americans out of Iraq.

The current stronghold of terrorism in Iraq has developed as a direct result of the Bush administration's actions and decisions, not in spite of them as Mr. Bush would have us believe.

The incredible irony here is that two countries that the president and the vice president have lauded as staunch allies in the global war against terrorism have been significant sources of the people who are killing and wounding American troops on a daily basis.

The only strategic course of action that makes political and military sense is to plan and carry out a phased withdrawal of American forces from a country that has become a cauldron of terrorist and insurgent activity and where there is no victory at the end of the road. Alan Safron

Woodcliff Lake, N.J., Nov. 22, 2007

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To the Editor:

Re "Baghdad Starts to Exhale as Security Improves" (front page, Nov. 20):

Now that it appears that progress is being made in Iraq, let's stanch the notion that Democrats and progressives are going to be unhappy and disappointed. Nothing could be further from the truth from what will amount to a cheap shot that will go out through the conservative echo chamber.

Liberals more than anyone have been sickened by the continuing loss of life and disruption in the lives of everyday Iraqis along with our soldiers and their families, not to mention the damage being done to our economy through this costly and endless occupation. If this success has been brought about by the surge, then the question is, Why wasn't it done sooner? Keith Schmitz

Shorewood, Wis., Nov. 20, 2007