Letter: It’s difficult for Bush to get away with choices

Wednesday, March 28, 2007 | 7:09 a.m.

First of all, if being critical to this administration offends you, please stop reading this.

As an American who reads and listens to a lot of current news, I believe my priorities are similar to most other Americans regarding priorities in Iraq:

1. American lives. It is a no-brainer that the longer our troops remain in Iraq, that more of them will die. The sooner that a withdrawal begins, the more American lives will be saved.

2. American tax dollars. It is also a no-brainer that there was a healthy surplus in the federal budget when President Bush took office. We now have the largest deficit in a fairly short time in the history of our nation.

3. Global acceptance. After Sept. 11, America had tremendous support from the rest of the free world and these countries supported our decision to go to Afghanistan and bring Osama bin Laden to justice. It is a third no-brainer that our country has fallen from grace with the decision to invade Iraq.

What would have made me happy? How about if the administration came out and reported that a maniac in Iraq was attempting to control the crude oil in the Middle East and if he wasn't stopped, our gasoline would go up to $2 and $3 a gallon. If he was not taken out of power, Iraq would be a landscape of civil unrest, killing and other horrors.

Where is the logic in all this? I guess that war is not logical, and when we have an informed public, it becomes more and more difficult for an administration to make poor choices and get away with them.

Ken Anderson, Las Vegas