NO ANSWER TO THE MESS IN IRAQ

Despite one recent letter writer's insistence that things are going "swell" in Iraq, one should always keep an open mind about the sacrifices that our troops are being asked to commit to--both here at home and abroad.

Here at home, we have one Republican candidate and one President whom wants to veto GI funding legislation aimed at giving our soldiers the college education that was promised to them--upon enlisting or re-enlisting--while at the front (in Iraq), we no longer have a clear strategy to win the war in Iraq.

We have an Iraqi government that is the worst example of US-planning ever conceived thus far--an institution that neither wants nor desires unification of any kind--leaving our military to bear the brunt of this occupation/"police-force" until when?

2013? Or 2103? I think McCain said both.

We all know by now that our military has no desire to leave Iraq in its present condition--despite second and third-hand reports that they desperately want to.

But the Iraqi government is neither moving forward or backwards. And we all know what that means, don't we? No progress in hindsight.

However, nobody wants us to stay in Iraq forever--not even by the smallest of margins. But getting out is a question that no one--not even the military heads--can easily answer.

Because no one has ever encountered a military paradox like this one.

So we are down to two obvious choices here: Leave and lose everything we worked for. Or stay and literally bleed ourselves to death over an extended period of time.

Which will it be?

Schuyler Thorpe

xxxth Street xx #X001

Everett, WA 98204

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