Letter: U.S. paying too much for mistake

Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2006 | 7:09 a.m.

You're in a store filled with fragile items. Signs are posted "You Break It, You Own It." Seeing a dusty crystal vase, you decide it is your duty to pick it up and dust it off. It slips from your hands and shatters on the floor. Oops! Now what? Thus goes the situation in Iraq.

Secretary of State Colin Powell reportedly told President Bush before the war, "you break it, you own it." Well, we broke it! We've spent over three and one half years trying to put the pieces back together, but to no avail. We've run out of glue, cut ourselves numerous times on the shards of glass and are left wondering why we picked it up in the first place. How many times have we all wished we could go back in time and change a decision that has negatively affected our lives?

No matter what decisions the Democrats make to repair this mess, one thing is perfectly clear. For the most part, it wasn't the Democrats who picked up the vase in the first place.

For better or worse, we are all in this together. We must find a solution and it may not be one that puts all the pieces together again. Taking the broken pieces and making three smaller vases out of them may be the one solution. Paying 100 times more than the vase is worth is not.

Ricky Kendall, North Las Vegas