Thanks for posting this soldier's email. I would humbly submit this as an exhibit in the case for those of us who opposed the war with Iraq from the get go. Contrary to the claims against us that we were anti Americans, terrorists, appeasers, isolationists, etc. what we were was consistent to conservative and libertarian understanding of failures of central planning and the dangers of ideologues. Ideologues start with grandiose ideas and build upon them. When reality conflicts with the basic tenets of their faith they dismiss reality, those unrepentant communists around the world for example. This is why some of us have disagreed with neoconservatives. They are central planners and ideologues. They had an idea for transforming the middle east and indeed the world. From the start their critics predicted this mess in Iraq. They predicted the need for large amounts of troops to pacify the country after the military was defeated. In fact the generals in the pentagon took issue with the neocon civilian authorities and were harshly slapped down by Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld, et. al. In summary everything the neocons predicted has failed to materialize and everything their critics said has come true. The cost has been heavy in blood, treasure and American prestige. Unfortunately the ideologues have learned nothing from failure and wish only to invade more Arab countries - preventative war you know - making the world safe for democracy, etc.
P.S. I'd like to add that those of us on the right who criticized the invasion of Iraq always thought the reasons for the war were fraudulent.
I disagree. Going into Iraq was always a roll of the dice. I still think it was worth trying. We can lower expectations there and keep a presence that will help keep the Middle East honest.