Responsibility for foreign wars

Re “War and peace, the Army way,” Opinion, Feb. 28

Face it: The Iraq fiasco has degenerated into a failed colonial war. No Army Field Manual will ever change it. Staying there for another 100 years won’t change it. Commanders from Napoleon Bonaparte onward have stated that counterinsurgencies must avoid killing, gain respect from the occupied nations and quickly restore peace and normal commerce. We have instead destroyed Iraq as a functioning state, and it is bleeding us and the Iraqis white. This lunacy is worsening the recession. Its and Afghanistan’s long-term cost will exceed $5 trillion, according to the latest estimate from Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard professor Linda Bilmes. Had enough yet?

Alexander Freeman

Thousand Oaks

From a young age, we are taught to take responsibility for our actions; if one opens the cupboard, one must close it back up. The same values taught since childhood are the values to implement today. America opened the cupboard in Iraq, and now it is time to close it back up, no matter how long it takes.

Melissa Centeno

Artesia