Letter: Power needs to be turned over to Iraq

Sunday, Dec. 18, 2005 | 7:47 a.m.

Jerry Bitts' Dec. 14 letter, "Don't be mistaken -- Iraq was no threat," was right on the mark.

We had every right to go into Afghanistan, and had we only done that, we would be killing many of these same terrorists, in the open, away from innocent children, women and elderly citizens.

We should not have invaded Iraq. Now, we are already in a quagmire.

Most of us wish the Iraqi people well, but, now that they have left the voting booth -- they need to volunteer and sign up to stand up and fight their own fight.

Just as soon as the elections are tallied, we should turn all power over to the newly elected leaders. It will not be a fledgling democracy -- they want a theocracy and we need to start being honest about that fact also.

Let's pull our troops back to safe areas where they can continue to train the Iraqi army -- and Americans are out of harm's way, or, at least, at far less risk. We have done an enormous amount of damage, and we have an obligation to repair the country and restore the infrastructure. But we need to get it done and get out as soon as possible.

We must continue to support our troops -- I just hope we will continue to ensure they get the medical benefits they have earned when they come home injured and wounded.

Johnathan L. Abbinett

Las Vegas

Editor's note: The writer is a veterans' advocate and activist who was Nevada coordinator for Veterans for Kerry during the 2004 presidential campaign.