War

As a military veteran, I know that it is essential for America to have a strong military. I also understand, with regret, that some wars must be fought, but I am opposed to unnecessary wars that cost us our finest patriots, and prevent us from better responding to the real needs of our country. The war in Iraq is a tragic and unnecessary war. It has cost our country a great deal in a great many ways, and our military involvement in Iraq must be brought to an end.

With the War in Iraq proceeding into its sixth year, our continuing support of this mistake has cost us the lives of over 4,000 of America's finest and has injured many tens of thousands more. With the nature of the injuries from this war, the time away from home and families due to extended tours of duty, and the emotional aftermaths of the war on both our soldiers and their families, the people who return are often different than they were when we sent them to serve. When we send our troops overseas to serve our country, we expect them to put forward their best effort, and get the job done. They do this with courage and valor. We need to make sure that when they get home, that they are treated as the brave heroes that they are, and that we provide them and their families with world class care when they need it.

It is predicted that the total cost of the war, including such continuing costs as caring for Veterans with disabilities, will be 3 trillion dollars ($3,000,000,000,000.00). Amounts this high are hard to really comprehend. One way to look at it is to view each dollar as one second of time, and count backwards. One million seconds (dollars) would be about a week ago. A billion seconds/dollars would be about the time President Nixon resigned and left the White House on Air Force One. A trillion seconds/dollars would be about 29,700 BC.

Not only do we bear this financial cost, this war has damaged our nation's good name. Our country’s judgment has been called into question. Even President Bush has now admitted that there was no tie between Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaida and Iraq. The President’s own National Security Advisor has said that “invading Iraq after 9-11 is much like invading Mexico after Pearl Harbor.” We were told that we would be “greeted as liberators,” but, in truth, our President had been warned against the war by such people as the President of Egypt who accurately warned that we would “create a thousand mini-bin Ladens.” Now, years later, the Iraqi civilian casualties are in the hundreds of thousands, their country is engaged in a civil war, and even our Generals admit that there is no military solution to the problems in Iraq, many of which we have created. Even the Iraqis have asked that we leave.

It is time for us to end this arrogant and mistaken policy of relying only on military might, and work with the international community to more thoughtfully solve the complicated issues that face the Middle East.

For more information on how we can end the war in Iraq responsibly, view the following website - http://responsibleplan.com/plan