President Bush is seeking to portray as good news his plan to reduce our troop level in Iraq by a paltry 5,900.
This ploy can be likened to a retailer who jacks up the price of a product before putting it "on sale" at a price higher than that which had previously been in effect. The proposed troop reduction is but a small fraction of the 30,000 troops devoted to this year's "surge."
Although our esteemed Iraqi commander Gen. David Petraeus is not certain that the occupation of Iraq is making our country safer, the message from him and from the president is clear: We will stay in Iraq indefinitely, as there is no hope on the horizon that Iraq will take responsibility for its security nor will it unify and end the bloodshed spawned by a civil war whose roots may be found in our incursion.
The war will continue to bleed our treasury and consume the lives and limbs of countless more brave soldiers at least until a new president is inaugurated -- and likely well beyond that.
The troop reduction heralded by the president is a tiny bone he throws to the significant majority of Americans who rue the day we marched into Iraq and who want us out. It is an insult to our intelligence and it is wholly insignificant.
Oren M. Spiegler
Upper St. Clair
