IRAQ WAR SHARPLY DIMINISHES US INFLUENCE ABROAD

Don't recall who said it first, but either Petraeus, Gates, or Donald Rumsfeld made boisterous claims that the US could and was "able" to meet any threat that comes up on the horizon--even though we were mired in Iraq.

Like Katrina, the Russian conflict with Georgia made it painfully clear that the US isn't able to respond at all to any disaster, threat, or conflict which has clearly risen to the forefront.

Why?

Because of all the years we wasted spinning our wheels and chasing our collective tails in Iraq. Wasting billions of dollars of taxpayer monies, manpower, and equipment--all to prop up a discombobulated government which clearly has less power than the people whom ran it before it became what it is now: A shadow government for Iranian interests only.

As such, our military heads and our government reps were unable to get the Russians to stop their invasion of Georgia, let alone reverse course in good faith.

All they did was rebuff us, laugh in our faces, and keep marching on.

As someone whom grew up during the Cold War, I never thought I'd see the day when we couldn't even get Russia to play nice.

But I never thought I would see just how little influence we now have on the international stage these days either.

All thanks to the Iraq war. All thanks to one George W. Bush.

Schuyler Thorpe

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Everett, WA 98204

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