Our Troops Just keep on dying; for what? The numbers of American troops killed in Iraq are increasing each day. At this writing the number is 55. We are in a minor guerilla war that sees Americans killed and no land is conquered, no purpose is wrought, no justification can honestly be made. Our boys are just dying.

And as these American troops are being killed two at a time, each day, this Bush government does not seem to notice. Their boasting has died down some, but there is no notice of the lives being lost and the pain being inflicted, and the American dollars being spent. And why? To make a few American corporations rich.

There is no reason that makes sense why we cannot hand this occupation over to the UN, and we get out; that would give our illegal invasion some type or semblance of credibility. We have already humiliated ourselves through lies and a declaration that the war has ended. It may have just begun, and it may not be the war we were looking for. The world has seen that we will dissemble, use half-truths and non-sequiturs in order to work our will when there is an absence of diplomacy. Now we are asking small nations to help us out of this quagmire instead of giving this failed mission to the UN. Indeed, the French and the Germans will not help us unless this action of rebuilding Iraq is turned over to the UN. The shame and humilitation is already there; this Bush group has shown this nation to be incompetent in diplomacy and in nation-building, and there is an increasing chorus of voices raising the spectre of Vietnam. These actions and more urge our quick exit.

In Vietnam, we showed ourselves to be outclassed in spite of our sophisticated bombs and our willingness to kill endless numbers of Vietnamese citizens. Must we go down that path again?

Our young Black, Brown, and white boys are dying and this president acts as if he does not care. But these are lives that hunger, long for their families and love-ones; these are soldiers who would like to be back home in Texas or other places too with their love ones. So while Bush vacations at his Texas home for a month, our troops are dying daily for a cause this president has yet to adequately justify to the American people and to the world. []

Frank A. Jones

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