Letter: Iraq is beacon for terrorists

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Monday, July 26, 2004 | 8:50 a.m.

It's hardly surprising that President Bush continues to insist that the U.S. is more safe from terrorists today as a result of having invaded Iraq.

If he admitted that we were ill-prepared for the aftermath of invasion and wrong for sending large numbers of troops to Iraq rather than to Afghanistan to capture Osama bin Laden, then our entire Middle East foreign policy, as well as the leadership that authored those policies, would be highly suspect.

Instead, in the absence of WMD, the need for the removal of Saddam has become a subterfuge, and the idea promoted that Iraq is no longer a potential terrorist state capable of harming America.

Unfortunately, it seems that Iraq has in fact become a beacon for every "terrorist" literally dying to get an occupying army out. Worse yet, we in the West are seen as modern crusaders invading an oil-rich Muslim country, and have been vilified following the fall of Sadaam.

It is very unlikely that we are more safe now, and it is nothing less than a national tragedy that more than 900 Americans have died as a result of our misguided foreign policy.

JOHN H. ESPERIAN