Letter: America unwisely took its focus off Afghanistan

Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007 | 7:20 a.m.

Regarding Gerard LaBossiere's Sept. 23 letter, "Defeat in Iraq is simply not an option":

Did Iraq start this war by killing nearly 3,000 of our citizens? No. Did we forget those who died when we turned our focus on Iraq and rendered minimal resources to fight al-Qaida in Afghanistan? Yes.

Those who voted for the Iraq war should have dug deeper to find the truth behind that action. They should not be blamed for making their decisions considering the garbage they were fed from those in the government who knew the truth, or ignored it.

If al-Qaida in Iraq were to throw up the white flag and surrender today, would it end that war? No. The sectarian violence would continue. Whose side would we take in Iraq, after the small al-Qaida forces left? The Sunni or Shiite tribes? We're fighting and killing both, so it would be a war against the Iraqi people, period.

What do we do with Iraq when all parties surrender and we are the victors? Do we just take the country over and start moving in? Do we really want that mess on our hands?

Had we kept our focus on al-Qaida in Afghanistan - the real perpetrators of the 9/11 disaster - the American people and the world would have stood behind us. The United States would have been willing to sacrifice and many nations would have assisted in rebuilding that region. Very few countries stand behind us now, and our prestige has been thrown into the gutter.

There are no winners in this war, only losers. That is a fact. Whether we leave now or 100 years from now, we will not win anything. Gen. Douglas MacArthur's statement, "There is no substitute for victory," has meaning only when there is something to win.

Ricky Kendall, North Las Vegas