Withdrawal date from Iraq totally justified

Since Diego Cruz of Thousand Oaks decided to politically "spin" the proposed withdrawal from Iraq in the president's favor, I think it's only fitting that the other side be heard.

In his April 5 letter to the Acorn, Cruz said that Congress was for the war when it began, yet failed to remind readers that Congress was then Republican-led. Now it's Democratically-led and it wants a set date for withdrawal.

Cruz also said that the majority of the American people were for the war, but it was only after they were misled by people like then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

This war was started--not to free a country from tyranny--but to find weapons of mass destruction. Cruz goes on, "There was no possible way to be sure (Saddam Hussein) didn't have (WMDs)."

Sure there was, at least in Rumsfeld's mind. On a March 30, 2003 episode of ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopolous," Rumsfeld said, "We know where they (the WMDs) are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad. . . ."

So, if we did know where they were, then there was a possible way to be sure Hussein had them--by having U.N. weapons inspectors look in those regions.

Finally, I'd like to address Cruz's analogy of the U.S. having an obligation to fix Iraq. "In a store, if you break an item, you bought it," Cruz said.

If we want to go into that frame of thinking, then let's get technical.

I can't remember a time when I broke an item in a store, only to have the broken pieces start fighting each other.

Cruz added, "Congress has decided that after breaking the item, they want nothing to do with it."

When has anyone ever wanted to keep an item he broke after paying for it? Especially if it's too costly to be fixed?

We're now locked in a war that doesn't seem to have an end.

President Bush said on Jan. 10, "Even if our new strategy works exactly as planned, deadly acts of violence will continue, and we must expect more Iraqi and American casualties."

In other words, we'll still fail--even if the new plan works.

If that's the case, then Congress is justified in demanding a withdrawal date.
Kevin Holt
Thousand Oaks