http://www.billspadea.com/micco-letter.php I disagree with your March 2, 2006 editorial, entitled “Exit strategy.” A cut and run strategy in Iraq is wrong. What we need is unity and resolve when our nation is at war. Remember the smiling, photo-op seeking politicians standing side by side in front of the U.S. Capital, singing patriotic songs for the cameras after September 11, 2001? That national unity was invaluable during Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. It is sorely missed and our country is paying a heavy price for its absence in Operation Iraqi Freedom. I spent yearlong military deployment in Iraq as a sergeant in the U.S. Army. My job was counterintelligence. The Iraqis risked their lives week after week to pass actionable intelligence to people like me. Their children look up to American servicemen like we’re celebrities. They’re grateful that we liberated them from Saddam Hussein. Now they need us to help them pick up the pieces and move forward like the United States did for Germany and Japan after World War II. The vast majority of Iraqis are benevolent people who appreciate us Americans but are getting frustrated with the trouble-makers who are funded and agitated by Iran and Syria. To abandon Iraq would be an insult to the service of the thousands of American I served with in Iraq and would paint a shameful picture of American resolve. One need only remember the attacks on the Khobar Towers, which begot the attack on the USS Cole, which begot the attacks on September 11, 2001 to realize that American resolve is something our adversaries make calculations about when they consider attacking us. Our military is equipped to destroy any enemy on the earth, but it’s no match for faint-hearted politicians pushing timetables. If we can’t rely on our elected leaders for unity and resolve when the going gets tough, then I feel a moral imperative to my fellow servicemen, my President and to the American people to carefully consider seeking a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Vince Micco- Rutherford
