Letter: What if Reid is right and this war is lost?

Wednesday, May 2, 2007 | 7:15 a.m.

Sen. Harry Reid called the war in Iraq "lost."

Washington Post columnist David Broder called Reid an "embarrassment."

But before the pundits and holier-than-thou crowd criticize him and suggest he step down as majority leader of the Senate, they need to ask themselves "what if."

What if Sen. Reid is right? What if the war really is lost? What if the Bush administration knows it but won't admit it? What if they've lied to us from the very beginning about the necessity and urgency of starting the war? What if they've wasted nearly a half-trillion dollars and tens of thousands of Iraqi and American lives on the biggest foreign policy blunder in American history?

What if Iraqis are not interested in democracy? What if they prefer tribes and clans over conventional political parties? What if they're never ready to stand up so we can stand down? What if they, and we, and the entire Middle East were better off with Saddam in power as a deterrent to Iran?

What if it takes years for America to get its good name and reputation back? What if we're stuck in Iraq for decades and can't find a satisfactory way to get out? What if, as in the Vietnam War, troops were allowed to die long after presidents and politicians knew the war was not winnable? What if the unthinkable is happening? What if history is repeating itself and American troops are once again dying for a lost cause?

Joyce Segal, Las Vegas