February 22, 2007

Letter to the Editor

Syracuse Post Standard

In Tuesday’s (February 20) editorial you stated “Repeating the same mistake over and over and expecting success is supposed to define insanity, not foreign policy. Yet President Bush is sending more troops to fight a lost war in Iraq in defiance of public opinion, an electoral mandate last November, the judgment of his own study commission and now, a bipartisan vote by the House of Representatives.

Last week Senator Chuck Shumer said “There will be resolution after resolution, amendment after amendment... just like in the days of Vietnam. The pressure will mount, the president will find he has no strategy, he will have to change his strategy and the vast majority of our troops will be taken out of harm’s way and come home.”

So, the war is lost and we are to have another Vietnam. Let me ask, who, in there right mind, wants another Vietnam?

I cannot speak for the editorial staff of the Post Standard, but Senator Shumer and I are both old enough to remember how the Vietnam War ended. Chuck, do you remember the shameful sight of those outreached hands of our friends and allies as the last helicopters left the American embassy? The thousands killed, the reeducation camps, the plight of the boat people? And then there was the genocide in Cambodia. They called it the killing fields, remember that?

I do not doubt that we would see similar suffering as a result of leaving a destabilized Iraq. Emboldened terrorists would destabilize governments in neighboring countries. I mean, would we really go back to save Kuwait or Jordan?

Will the surge work? I pray that it does. If under General Petraeus our troops can truly fight and keep what they gain we have a chance. I also believe it is our last chance. If we loose here the American people will demand that we leave with as much honor as we can muster. They will be right and justified in that judgment.

So, Senator Shumer, what are you going to do now? Will you let General Petraeus have a chance or will you do everything you can stymie his efforts? Let me offer some advice. Say what you must, but let the troops go in and fund their efforts. After all, if it all comes up a cropper it was George W Bush’s war. If you persist in attempting to make this “just like in the days of Vietnam” I’ll be sure to remind people that it’s your defeat. And, as you can see, I have a long memory.

Charles S Pillar

charlespillar@yahoo.com