Letter: It’s Iraqis’ turn to fight their war

Friday, June 8, 2007 | 7:17 a.m.

At one time Iraq had 1 million-man army. Yet today its army stands at only 200,000 men, maybe. And this is after fours year of us training them.

There are plenty of Iraqis who could serve their country in the military, but they don't step forward. Why?

Isn't it odd that in only a few months we can take a high school graduate, send him to boot camp, put a gun in his hand and ship him off to Iraq, but after four years there is no truly dedicated army in Iraq? Instead, what we have there is a useless, small, ineffective secular army with a very high desertion rate that hides behind our soldiers.

The reality is that Iraq is a country divided by sectarian religious groups, with individuals who couldn't care less about Iraq as a country, who are loyal only to their respective religious groups.

This is something that we will never change. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., was correct when he said the Iraq war is lost. But it's not our war to lose. It's the Iraqi people who are losing. We didn't lose the war in Iraq, the Iraqi citizens did.

We accomplished the mission and set the Iraqi people free. Now we're just stuck in the middle , among all the infighting. We can't make the people of Iraq want a democracy and fight for freedom.

What a shame that President Bush doesn't see this, but maybe Bush has a different agenda and a new mission to accomplish. In the meantime, more Americans are being killed and coming home wounded, civil unrest continues to increase and billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars are spent with no end in sight.

It's time to leave Iraq and let the Iraqi people fight their own battles.

Joachim Waechter, Las Vegas