Letter: Bush wants U.S. to stay in Iraq to build bases

Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2006 | 7:08 a.m.

President Bush had no intention of ever getting out of Iraq entirely. One of the benefits of invading Iraq was to be that after we toppled Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi people, and whoever we put in to replace Saddam, would be so grateful and obligated to us that they would invite us to build permanent bases there, so that we could look after our oil interests and intimidate the neighbors.

That would also allow us to get out of Saudi Arabia, where we have had troops for over 50 years, which is one of the reasons that Osama bin Laden attacked us on 9/11.

After Richard Nixon was elected president, we spent more than five years trying to get out of Vietnam without it appearing that we had lost. It didn't work there, either.

Jim Riley, Las Vegas

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