Letter: Incompetence on Iraq reaching new levels

Monday, April 30, 2007 | 7:37 a.m.

Richard Mundy's April 23 letter was right on the money. How so many can be blind to the war in Iraq is beyond belief.

Blunder after blunder is constantly being made by this administration. One of the biggest was made by President Bush on April 10 when he said, "The bottom line is this: Congress' failure to fund our troops will mean that some of our military families could wait longer for their loved ones to return from the front lines." The very next day, Defense Secretary Robert Gates made the announcement he would be lengthening the tours of duty by an extra three months (from 12 to 15 months). Seems there is some inconsistency and a lack of communication within the Oval Office.

The president has also stated that the surge is working - give it time. How then does he explain the bombings of the parliament, the bridge, the Green Zone market place, and the most disastrous one of all which happened Tuesday ? That day was one of the deadliest days since the war began - the second direct attack on U.S. bases in two months; nine U.S. military killed and 20 wounded. A total of 85 U.S. deaths this month.

Why are we building a wall in Baghdad (shades of the Berlin Wall) without the consent of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and the Iraqi government? If this is to reduce the levels of violence, then what, if anything, is the so-called surge doing?

So again I ask, how can so many be so blind? The incompetence of this administration keeps going on and on and on. Both the Alberto Gonzalez hearing and the Tillman-Lynch hearings come to mind, but those are letters for another time.

La Rue S. Boenig, Henderson