Iraq will go down as major political, military blunder

Recently I listened to Sun Tzu's "The Art of War,'' a classic text on military strategy. I was struck by how often the Bush administration violated key strategies of war. Read or listen to it and you will see what I mean.


I opposed the Iraq War from the beginning. I regret that not enough congressmen and congresswomen had the courage and wisdom to challenge Bush on the need for this war. Saddam Hussein may have had his evil side. But, he may well have been the lesser evil of many. Like it or not, it was Saddam who held Iran, Syria and the Middle East in check. By removing Saddam, Bush released the demons within Iraq and without.
I believe that history will cite America's arrogant second invasion, and consequent occupation, of Iraq as one of the most egregious military and political blunders ever: an ever-growing fiasco. America needs to take a good hard look at itself and its own democracy. We live in a country where some label it treason to oppose a war president and his administration. If we can't challenge egregious errors of judgment at the highest levels of government, America has no business dictating democracy by arms, when it will not allow democracy in speech, in print, in the voting booth, in the halls of Congress. The fiascoes of America's last two presidential elections have given the country what it deserves.

A letter written to the Indianapolis Star