The true costs of the war in Iraq will come later

I've come to believe that the best way we can support our American troops is to get them out of Iraq. Along with many U.S. citizens, I've been struggling to understand what is the best action we can now take, given the terrible circumstances of this war.

I had the painful but enlightening experience this week of attending a talk at the Thousand Oaks Library by Dr. Dahlia Wasfi.

A medical doctor born in the U.S. to an Iraqi father and an American Jewish mother, Wasfi's talk was sponsored by the Ventura County branch of Global Exchange. Dr. Wasfi spent several years as a young child in Iraq under Saddam Hussein, and she returned recently to visit her extended family there.

Wasfi believes that the damage from our use of depleted uranium will cause enormous damage, including cancer, to our troops stationed in Iraq. As an American, she's concerned about the lasting impact to the troops and their children from their exposure to dangerous chemicals used in warfare.

She also showed the lack of medical and psychological care that's now harming so many veterans of the first Gulf War and the current war. Our resources should be used to take care of the men and women who have served us so selflessly.

Wasfi also showed evidence of the profound destruction in Iraq: a healthcare system broken, infrastructure destroyed and terrible casualties inflicted upon Iraqi civilians. She reminds us that more than half of the population consists of women and children, and they're being killed, wounded, infected and psychologically damaged at a terrible rate. To these innocent victims the "War on Terror" is a "War of Terror."

You can visit Dr. Wasfi's website at www.liberatethis.com. We've failed to protect our own troops and the Iraqi civilians we had hoped to rescue.

Let us do what we can to end this destruction now.
Beth Farnbach
Newbury Park