As I child I believed wars were the thing that movies were made of, but then spent my teen years praying for an end to the VietNam conflict, and during my child-rearing years I prayed that my sons would never have to fight in any war. The Gulf War scared me, but not more than the morning of 9-11, when once again I cried knowing that this time it would be VietNam all over again. I now pray that it will all end soon, keep the faith that it will not be VietNam all over again, and hold on to the hope that our troops will soon come home. The child in me once again emerges, but now I beg for the God of each of the world’s faiths to look down on the children and show them the path to how to play better… peacefully. ~VNF

I feel that Iraq is going thru it’s 4,000 year old temper tantrum. Being one of the oldest inhabited portions of the world, it still has not realized how to live in peace and respect and celebrate its citizens. I watched Charlie Rose last night and was happy to see both Burns and Kilpten (forgive me dexter for misspelling your name) on and giving a history and better progress on the citizens and the “state of the country” than the military and congressmen/women in washington can even with their session and reporting that was done over the last couple of days. I feel that like Burns who quoted a military commander “We need to let them stand up, so that we may stand down.” Burns followed up with how American’s are very “go getting” and will do the actions needed, we, as americans, need to step back, place the government and all the proper parties and put them on notice not the date (although I suggest two years from yesterday) with which we are leaving, but, that they are responsible for their country step up now, get the training for internal country military NOW as it is leaving. If they make the calendar and they miss the dates. We (american military) still have a responsibility at home. Our role as America has changed from fighting wars like WWII to helping countries rebuild, we just must do it in short order and place the responsibility on the country itself. I find that I feel Iraq and its “War” is a prime example of what the United Nations should be doing, not america. I often wonder if because we as a nation step in like this, if it is the basis for many citizens around the world to shun and dislike us as some do. My greatest or biggest fear is that no exit plan will be made, the Iraqi government will not be able in any form to unify the country and we will remain as a presence. No good can come from that. The give a man a fish, he eats for a day, show a man how to fish he eats for life. My greatest or biggest hope is that this 4,000 year old toddler will learn that to complete the puzzle called the country of Iraq as it takes all the pieces to complete and that the “Awaking” of each group that the insurgence or blocking, bombing etc is not giving them the security and balance to live and create a country that they already love and hold dear. (learning how to play with others and when to not play with the bullies!) Just listen to the comments on the internet of how proud the Iraqi people were when their scoccer/football team won a cup! That is the glue that is needed to build a country. B. Walker-Cavalli

The Iraq situation is based on gang warfare as any student in a social science class of the 1970”s can tell you.. I can only hope future negotiations will take this in to account. I wish they would read books by George Devos Phd.

I think we need to get out of Iraq as soon as possible in a responsible way. We will never win as this is historically a culturally and religious trouble spot since it was partioned by the British. It will be disastrous whether it is next year, 5 years, 20 years; it will be the same or worse. VOTE. Become informed. One of the best books on the subject is THE LOOMING TOWER by Lawrence Wright (it won a Pulitzer Prize last year). There have been over 5,000,000 people killed in the Eastern part of the Congo and we didn’t invade there. It is about OIL and controlling the area of the Gulf. We are afraid of China and want to make sure the US has control of the Straits of Hormuz (sp?). Please keep informed. Read the New York Times and your local newspaper. See how your local representatives are voting and how they represent you and your values. Watch McNeal Lerner newscast Mon - Friday on PBS for coherent, respectful discussions. Become involved in your community. Register to vote. Volunteer for a Candidate you respect. Also understanding the economics and costs of this War is important… much more so than any small tax breaks the government purports to give us. We need to concentrate our strategy to fight the Terrorists in Afghanistan and the border with Pakistan. We cannot keep up occupying Iraq financially and we will need a Draft to sustain American safety. I’m volunteering now for Senator O’bama. I’m a Registered Independent and worked on Senator McCain’s 2000 Primary run as a Republican, but we need Negotiation not Bombs. Chris

Our involvement in Iraq has been a horrid blunder and many, many fronts. The pain of loss that the people of that country have suffered, and the pain suffered by the troops and their families cannot be measured. If McCain is elected I fear for the future and believe that the mess created by a President that is worse than Nixon will only get worse.

General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker were forced to admit: There never will come a time when Al Quaeda could not re-constitute itself or Iran could not increase its influence in Iraq. That was in response to a clever set of questions from Barack Obama during Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings. So Liz Smith’s ambivalent feelings are justified by the realities for the future.

I feel that Iraq is still a hopeless mess and that our soldiers should be systematically extricated from the area over a reasonable amount of time. I was very disappointed to see the two Bush apologists (albeit veterans of the Iraq milieu) on the Charlie Rose show last night. Bits and pieces of “successes” do not a successful invasion and occupation make!! Please, oh please, don’t let the American voters be stupid enough to put John McCain in office to extend the aggressive, insane Bush/Cheney policies and cause more unnecessary American and Iraqi deaths—not to mention the waste of trillions of dollars that could be spent for myriad other needs.

I thought it was a mistake. Now I know it is. Iraq is a quagmire. Our President thought it would be so easy. Just a few photo ops after the statue of Saddam Hussein was pulled down and Americans are heros. It doesn’t even work that way in the movies anymore! What was he thinking? Revenge? Oil revenues? Whatever … he’s gotten America into a mess from which we must extricate ourselves. The costs to the Iraqies, to the troops, to the families back home, to our economy are too great. Since men seem destined to believe they can impose their will on others, I’d like to see leaders return to an old world war ethic. Let the leaders fight each other rather than send the innocents to slaughter.

No eloquent words—I just think it was a monstrous, disgusting undertaking by greedy people. It was done intentionally and without thought to the consequences or the lives of millions of people including our own. It has cost too many lives, and an astronomical amount of money. We may never recover, financially, from “Bush’s War”. If he planned on destroying the United States, he’s doing very well, so far. The sooner we are out of there, the sooner the healing will start.