This War Needs To Stop

To the Editor:

I am responding to letters in last week’s Bee written by Ms Lerman [Laura E. Lerman, “A Bleeding Heart Liberal On The Fourth”] and Mr Karnoff [Robert Karnoff, “Optimism Vs Reality”]. Each wrote about different aspects of the war in the Mideast that has consumed this country for the past five years.

As the father of an Army Major — who has been deployed three times in this war — and a combat veteran myself with 28 years in uniform, I think I have the credentials to make some comments. In short, I have skin in the game.

To those who would say that war is inexpensive in terms of dollars and lives I need to tell you as a former commanding officer one life lost is a huge price to pay. War is plain hell. In the end nobody really wins. It consumes national resources and destroys young lives; even those who make it home carry lifelong burdens.

I initially supported this war because I felt that removing weapons of mass destruction from the hands of a mad man was a just purpose. The problem is that goal was never realized. That really is the central issue. When the military is used, it is because all other options have failed. Furthermore, that usage must be undertaken only with clarity of purpose. We had such clarity after Pearl Harbor, the 1990 invasion of Kuwait and September 11th. But now I just can not see a clear purpose.

Mr Karnoff is correct in his analysis the cost in dollars is outpacing our ability to pay. Ms Lerman is right in her comment that maybe the money could be better spent elsewhere. And then we have the biggest cost of all young heroes who are forever silent, forever gone.

There are many reasons behind all this. To run down the list would take a long time, especially because I think in large part the people who made the decisions did so believing they were selecting the best course of action given what they knew at the time. But we are past that point.

What we need to do now is get out. The people of Iraq need to stand up and run their country. If we leave tomorrow or 100 years from now unless this happens the outcome will be the same — secular violence and national discord. The United States does not have the means nor the skill to make the outcome different; only the people of Iraq can do that.

It is time to bring the troops home. Problem is that is no easy task nor is it something we can do overnight. The build-up to the mature area of operations we have has taken years. To disengage and redeploy will take even longer … for the safety of the troops it must be orderly and well managed.

I am probably more conservative than the late Barry Goldwater, so this letter was a long time coming. But the bottom line is this war needs to stop and the troops need to come home. As the nation faces a historic presidential election in November I know the debate will heat up. Please remember the troops are in the field risking their lives every day (including my son); what we must never do is let them down or demoralize them … after all they are doing their job.

As Mr Karnoff said, “If you can’t see it is broken, you are part of the problem.”

R P Gottmeier

13 Antler Pine Road, Sandy Hook                                  July 25, 2008