Ed Klein, Peoria, IL

I hear it more and more, “We have to get out of Iraq and Afghanistan and get our troops home.” What people are saying is that it’s not our business to tell the Iraqis and the Afghanis how to run their countries. After thousands of lives and millions of dollars, what do we have to show for it? Each day we read about Taliban and Al-Qaida incursions into what we thought were pacified areas, and even our supposedly secure military bases. And now, the Afghan forces we are attempting to train are turning on us and either taking the equipment we provide them and disappearing, or what’s even worse, turning those weapons on our troops while disguised as police and army trainees.

And yet we are told that we can’t just pull out because things are still unsettled and they need our help. But given the ancient religious animosity, tribal jealousies, government corruption and a seeming inability of their leaders to get together to from any kind of stable government, what is the answer? Some caution us that pulling out will amount to the loss of everything we have accomplished over there. It might be instructive to ask, what have we really accomplished when insurgents continue to carry on their warfare with frequent bombings, rocket attacks and harassment?

So, do we stay there and watch how our returning troops (those that do return) suffer from PSTD; mental problems caused by combat under horrific conditions, seeing civilians murdered by their own people, suffering disfiguring wounds and loss of limbs resulting in domestic problems and growing number of families losing husbands, wives, sons, brothers and daughters? Or do we wake up to the reality of it all and say enough is enough!

Yes, we can sympathize with those people who want nothing more than to live in peace and security free from fear and oppression. And, we may feel if we can help them accomplish that, we will show the world what America stands for. But the overwhelming cost in lives and money tells us otherwise. So, if we pull out, will that be the end of it? Will what we may have accomplished be lost? Or will it revert to what it had been for millennia, with our involvement nothing more than a note in some future history book about how just one more invader had come and gone?