By George, he gets it

Re “Get out of Iraq, now,” Opinion, April 20

I was heartened to read former Sen. George McGovern’s article. In 1972, I was one of thousands of Democrats knocking on doors to encourage people to vote for McGovern for president.

Where are all the Democrats and others who opposed the debacle in Vietnam, the Korean War and now the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? Perhaps if more voices are heard, President Obama may change his position of increasing funds for the troops and delaying their return until 2011. It’s up to ordinary citizens to pressure their representatives to stop the madness of bombing countries to get rid of terrorists. That’s not going to wipe out Al Qaeda -- it will only help recruit more terrorists.

Trudy Goldman

Marina del Rey

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McGovern’s “get out now” message is tempting -- but it dismisses the accomplishments of our sons and daughters in Iraq and invites disgrace. Our overthrow of Saddam Hussein is not insignificant. Our armed forces have demonstrated that any nation that purports to use military force and terror to advance its national interests may be subject to the dismantling of its government. Al Qaeda and its supporters have thrown everything into this conflict and have been defeated and dispersed.

I am a Vietnam War veteran. We lost there because a Democratic Congress withdrew its support of our military and declared defeat. Now McGovern is again calling for a declaration of defeat, this time in Iraq.

Let us not forget the savage attacks we suffered on 9/11.

Let us not forget that war means the sacrifice of blood and treasure.

Let us not allow the sacrifices of our armed services in Iraq to come to naught.

Let us declare victory, because victory is the answer.

Noel Anenberg

Encino

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Shame on McGovern for not acknowledging our moral obligation to put out the fire that we started in Iraq (for no good reason) and that we continued to exacerbate -- through our arrogance, ignorance, corruption and incompetence -- for at least the next three years.

I don’t care what the thing costs us, we owe the people of Iraq. And we owe the fine American troops who are now, perhaps, on the verge of turning things around.

Carl de Villar

Hermosa Beach

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I heartily agree with McGovern’s arguments for leaving Iraq now.

To those who say we can’t just walk out, I say, we walked out of Vietnam ... and I think the U.S. and Vietnam are the better for that.

Sandra Smith

Yorba Linda