A Note From Some Officers On Iraq

A snippet from the end of an LTTE in the WaPo today, written and signed by 12 Army Captains that have actually had their boots on the ground and their own lives on the line in Iraq.

This is Operation Iraqi Freedom and the reality we experienced. This is what we tried to communicate up the chain of command. This is either what did not get passed on to our civilian leadership or what our civilian leaders chose to ignore. While our generals pursue a strategy dependent on peace breaking out, the Iraqis prepare for their war -- and our servicemen and women, and their families, continue to suffer.

There is one way we might be able to succeed in Iraq. To continue an operation of this intensity and duration, we would have to abandon our volunteer military for compulsory service. Short of that, our best option is to leave Iraq immediately. A scaled withdrawal will not prevent a civil war, and it will spend more blood and treasure on a losing proposition.

America, it has been five years. It's time to make a choice.

While I have been against this illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq from the get-go, and for all of the reasons that have been proven to be correct, it is now time for all of those yipping and yapping, chickenhawk, never-ending war, cheerleaders to stand up and be counted.

What was it that was said last week? Oh yeah... Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the former top commander in Iraq, called the war “a nightmare with no end in sight.”

It is time to end this nightmare.

The director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Scott Redd, tells NBC News that, “in the short term,” the Iraq war “probably” has created a “giant recruiting tool” for terrorists. In response to a question about whether the US is generally safer after having invaded Iraq, “tactically, probably not,” Redd responded.