Wrong Words
Are Being Used

It is essential that we stop using words like "victory", "defeat", "success". "accomplished mission" in discussion of the American presence in Iraq. Victory and Defeat are not words that define a job that is over.

Our soldiers toppled their sadistic dictator. We organized the election of the existing government. We completed those jobs. We are not fighting the people of Iraq. They are fighting amongst themselves. Victory or Defeat are words to pin on Sunnis and Shiaa not on our military men and women who served honorably, regardless of how foolhardy the mission was in the first place.

It is time to give Iraq back to the Iraqi people, and leave them to resolve their own future. We owe them financial assistance both as reparation and incentive, but Iraqis need to rebuild their country in any way they see possible. If they choose to fight a bloody civil war in the interim, we should leave them to it, promising to work with the victors.

What we need to do is heal our own wounds, and to elect new Democrats and Republicans to represent the people of the country with honesty and courage. And we need to give thanks and more assistance to our veterans and their families.

The most sensible argument I have read on the subject of Iraq is in George McGovern and William Polk’s "Out of Iraq," particularly the chapter "What Happens If We Don't Get Out of Iraq." They recommend that we are out of Iraq no later than June of 2007, and they give clear advice on how to achieve that.

Stella L Holding

Cincinnati, Ohio