Dear George,

The American situation in Iraq is not without precedent. The French experienced a like suicidal insurgency in Algeria, until they decided the cost of staying in a country where they didn't belong was prohibitive. The U.S. may be more fortunate, however, in that the Iraqi resistance does not enjoy anything like unified support for an American ouster. Many Iraqis welcome the American presence. There is no question, though, they would also prefer the presence of a United Nations force.

The U.S. was driven out of Viet Nam by Ho Chi Minh and his successors but the current Iraqi insurgents are unlikely to have a leader of Ho's undoubted ability guiding it, and they certainly do not possess an armed force remotely as large as Ho's. My guess is the continued attacks on American forces and their Iraqi allies will subside over time and the country may slip into an uneasy working relationship with the Occupation, if only from sheer exhaustion.

This does not mean the war was worth initiating or that the capture of Saddam Hussein was worth a single American life. President Bush can never bring back the 400 young Americans who sacrificed their lives in Iraq for the Administration's lies, or the estimated 7,000 Iraqi civilians who also died for those lies. What's more, the American taxpaying public has been cheated out of 200-billion dollars it badly needs at home for schools, infrastructure, training, business development, and countless other projects to satisfy felt human needs. This country desperately needs to find non-military solutions for advancing its foreign policy. President Kennedy, who designed the Peace Corps, instead turned to the CIA and the military to attack Cuba, with a resultant loss of life and face for America. The ensuing 40 years of bitterness and enmity between Cuba and the United States -- as well as the Cuban missile crisis which JFK precipitated by the Bay of Pigs invasion -- has been a tragedy for two countries that should have been friends. How much better it would have been to send thousands of Peace Corps volunteers to Cuba to display the idealistic face of America, rather than the face of its imperialism. The West Germans helped bring down the Wall by example, not by force. Communism is strengthened when its opponents misuse force, just as judo experts make use of their opponents size. Presidents Nixon and Reagan could have used the Peace Corps in Chile and Nicaragua, respectively, but chose instead the road of revolution. Tens of thousands died because of American intervention.

When Dennis Kucinich talks about a Cabinet post for a Secretary of Peace he is regarded as a dreamer but the other route is a nightmare. This is the road President Bush has elected to travel. Governor Howard Dean is right when he says the capture of Saddam Hussein doesn't make any difference. The damage has been done; it is continuing every day; people are dying as a result of American intervention just as surely as they were butchered by the recent dictator of Iraq. We need a president who will not just give lip-service to Judeo-Christian ideals, but will put these ideals into practice. If the Bush record in Iraq is what Republicans mean by "experience" in foreign policy as they mock the Democrats for lacking it, heaven help America. We are leaving a trail of blood, not glory. The Founding Fathers (and Mothers) would weep.

Sherwood Ross (electronic mail, December 17, 2003)