Abandoning Iraq would be bigger mistake (12/28/06)

To the editor:

Invading Iraq was a mistake.

Abandoning Iraq on a grand scale is not only a mistake but grossly unconscionable.

What's done is done. The facts for the necessity to star the Iraq war in the first place are clothed in bitter conjecture.

America is paying a monstrous price for this rush to arms. But one thing is certain; the president of the United States has drawn a line in the sand whereby weapons of mass destruction will not be tolerated on the "Planet Earth." This is a warning to evil and ambitious tyrants of the dire consequences which would follow if that warning falls on deaf ears.

One cannot begin to lament the loss of our service men and women called to duty during this Mideast conflict. But their presence and still there in the fester-ridden area of the earth helps America and her assisting allies from having to fight on our own turf, which is certain to follow in the future if freedom fighter don't quell the uprising in the Mideast.

What will happen to the Iraqi people if we (i.e.. the service men and women of the U.S.) leave Iraq enmasse? Another conflict would surely ensue.

Our total investment for the area would be lost. Freedom and democracy chances would suffer a severe setback. Huge infrastructures, efforts, medical and social aids, talented technical services donated by the grieving world would undoubtedly cease.

And for the most part, the Iraqi people must come together and in one way or another take hold and put an end to regional and religious sectarian violence. Freedom and democracy will never be delivered to a people in a nice package. They'll have to take it, love it, and protect it.

It can be done. The American colonists did it in 1776.

Somewhere among the great people of Iraq there is maybe maturing a Thomas Jefferson, a George Washington, an Abraham Lincoln, a Moses, and indeed maybe a King Solomon to bring together a great nation in peace with itself and with the world.

Joe Toth

Portland[[In-content Ad]]