Letter: Facts paint ugly picture in Iraq

Sunday, Feb. 25, 2007 | 7:22 a.m.

Elbert W. Lemmon's Feb. 21 letter condemning the House of Representatives' anti-surge resolution, based on his contention that the troop surge provides a new strategy for the war in Iraq, ignores the fact that the war was botched from the very beginning with "cooked" intelligence and with little input from our most experienced military leaders. There is no good alternative war strategy other than a phased withdrawal, which admittedly will be difficult to accomplish with more grace than disgrace. But it's better than more casualties.

The "surge" is not really a surge. It's a gimmick designed to hide the ugly realities, especially the inadequate troop strength, by overextending the overseas assignments of our troops and instituting such legally questionable subterfuges as "stop-loss" to prevent the retirement of experienced troops. Talk about morale busters!

Another ugly fact: President Bush was warned by the leaders of Jordan and Egypt that the invasion would radicalize much of the region. He ignored them.

Still another ugly fact: He relied upon the civilians in the Pentagon rather than our military leaders. The ugly details? Read David S. Cloud's Feb. 15 report in The New York Times headlined "Iraq war planner was hired by military university briefly."

The ugliest fact of all: The Bush blunders will complicate our foreign policy and endanger our citizens for decades to come. It's not just the seething resentment of the Muslim world. The vast majority of Europeans think our Mideast adventures are either dangerous, incomprehensible or just plain stupid.

Rolf Goeth, Las Vegas