Letter: Nightmare in Iraq just keeps getting worse

Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2007 | 7:04 a.m.

I shouldn't be surprised and shocked, but I am. An article appearing in Monday's Washington Post, headlined "Weapons given to Iraq are missing," illustrates another example of the Bush administration's inept handling of the war in Iraq.

According to the article, approximately 190,000 AK-47 rifles and pistols given to Iraqi security forces since 2004 are unaccounted for, and at least 30 percent of those weapons may now be in the hands of insurgents. In other words, weapons paid for by American taxpayers are now being used to kill American soldiers.

When will this nightmare end? We have lost more than 3,600 of our best young men and women in a war that should never have been, and we have spent half a trillion dollars in a war supposedly against terrorism, yet there's more terrorism now in the world than there was immediately after 9/11.

I constantly hear the voices from the right saying that we should support our troops, "stay the course" and give the "surge" an opportunity to work despite the fact that there is still no light at the end of the tunnel. The war is now into its fifth year.

I do agree, however, with those on the right who say we should support our troops. Yes, by all means let's support our troops. Let's support our troops by bringing the m home. The sooner, the better.

Larry Burgess, Henderson

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