Web Letters: A Call to Bring All Troops Home

I squeeze my son with passion and mumble "see ya later" as he shuffles off to school.

The father shakes his hand and waves good-bye as his boy boards the plane for Iraq.

My usual commute carries the burden of heavy traffic, a major inconvenience.

He ties his boots tight and slips on his armored jacket, he notices he's shaking but shrouds it well.

There's a traffic accident up ahead slowing traffic to a halt, damnit, I'm gonna be late.

He thinks, "So is today we get hit with another IED?"

I shake my head in disgust while passing them by.

They're in a dangerous part of the city, a bomb goes off near by, his eyes are wild with fear as he scans rapidly in all directions.

What am I going to get for lunch today?

The Humvee he was riding in snapped a tripwire and detonated a roadside bomb outside Tal Afar. The Staff Sgt. in charge directed rescue efforts as soldiers from two tanks rushed to give aid.

Man, my back is sore today, I should get one of those ergonomic chairs.

Even though being in charge he wanted to scream, throw up and run away.

It's been a long day, a cold one sounds good right now.

Writhed in pain and blood on the ground his eyes roll back in his head.

I wrestle with my son for a bit as the family catches our favorite entertainment show.

He no longer feels any pain.

I catch a snippet of the news while walking upstairs.

"Four deaths in Bagdad today," utters the attractive talking head.

My head sinks into the pillow as I close my eyes and fall asleep.

His body arrives in the US aboard a covert charter jet. They don't want us to feel their anguish.

Bring the boys back home!

Mark Picone

Hudson, OH

This is unquestionably a "dirty war," in the context cited by Mr. Hayden. Yet, is it realistic to believe that the American government, under the aegis of the Congress, would advocate walking away 100% from access to Iraqi oil reserves? Why doesn't Mr. Hayden mention the ongoing construction, at a cost of hundreds of millions, of numerous American military bases throughout Iraq, designed to maintain an American presence there and undoubtedly protect access to Iraqi oil? Are we just going to pick up our marbles and walk away from that enormous investment, no matter how militarily, let alone morally, justified it may be? I for one don't think so.

At the least we need some entity--why not The Nation--to consolidate the issues in one place and bring together the rationale for either retaining some American presence in Iraq, and for what purposes, or clearing out lock, stock and oil barrel, leaving the place to its own eventual resolution by its own internal forces.

We went in for some apparently rational strategic reasons, poisoned, we later discovered, by some very evil hidden agendas and the worst incompetence in the history of US warfare. However, we're still there, and our kids are dying like flies every day. We've got to do something to end this insanity, but not throw the baby out with the petroleum, at least not until we have some realistic energy plan for alternative fuels that makes dependence on Middle East oil an anachronism, not a vital necessity. Achieving such a plan, and seeing results, will take a while, likely several years.

Until then, what do we do about those bases under construction? What do we do about the puppet government in Iraq? What do we do about the so-called Iraqi Oil Law, which gives American oil companies a strangle hold on Iraqi oil production virtually in perpetuity? What do we do about continued American government subsidies to oil companies, which have shown record astronomical profits in recent quarters? What do we do about the planned dearth of refineries inside the US, causing spiking gas prices that continue to inch up, while the oil companies explain the problem in the most transparently bullshit terms imaginable? Why is the Congressional leadership so quiescent on this issue, probably the single greatest threat to our way of life? (I don't include the current President because there's nothing of consequence he could speak to that would matter to anyone, other than his diehard base of true believers).

Please put it all together, Nation, and lay it out. Thank you.

Stewart Braunstein

Port Washington , NY