Staying the course has taken us off track

Re “Senators Face Off Over 2 Iraq Pullout Plans,” June 22

Death strikes our forces in Iraq on a daily basis. Now we get possible torture and beheadings to contend with. The war in Iraq was over in two weeks while the occupation has dragged on for more than three years.

The Republican policy summed up by the phrase “stay the course” has long since hit a dead end.

Our troops are caught in a civil war. Iraqi leaders are calling for a deadline for U.S. troop withdrawal. Overwhelmingly, the Iraqi people don’t want us there. “Stay the course” is a failed policy.

A new course of action is necessary. Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) is right in his call for withdrawal while keeping a strike force at the ready to take care of problems from the air that the Iraqis can’t handle.

How many more must die before our husbands and wives, brothers and sisters are moved out of harm’s way?

DICK SMOAK

Altadena

*

Re “Democrats Shape Plans on Iraq,” June 20

As a Democrat, I am embarrassed by my party’s performance in a multi-ring circus with regard to the Iraq debate.

Each equivocating pronouncement plays directly into the Karl Rove strategy of claiming that the Democrats are an inferior choice when it comes to national security.

There are no good alternatives in the Iraq situation. “Staying the course” means more American and Iraqi deaths, not to mention the enormous sums of money that are being spent. “Cut and run” means a potential civil war, although this has hardly been suggested by the Democrats.

The point that should be made is that it is the present administration that started this war using fabricated arguments. It has made blunder after blunder in conducting the war. It continues to make the false connection between the war on terrorism and the war in Iraq. And it has forced us into a circumstance where there are no good alternatives.

It is time for a real debate, one that lacks fear-mongering and accusations of unpatriotic behavior.

JOCHEN HABER

Encino