Durl Kruse on the Fifth Year in Iraq

On this anniversary date we must face the reality of what we have done these past four years. We have a civic responsibility to ask ourselves? How much more? How much longer? How much safer is the world? How much longer can we continue with the same policy in the war on terrorism?

I proclaim: Not One More Year.

Now is a time for serious reflection. Ask yourself:

Are you willing to have our nation continue to sacrifice the lives of five thousand, eight thousand, or more of our servicemen and women in Iraq? Are you willing to see the number of injured climb to sixty thousand, eighty thousand or more? Are you comfortable accepting the increasing deaths and causalities of Iraqi people as they climb to 600,000, 800,000 or a million? Are you willing to jeopardize the future solvency of our national treasury to the tune of $500 billion, $1 trillion dollars? How much more of any aspect of this occupation are you willing to support as you witness the results of the past four years?

I proclaim, Not One More Year!

Is this an endless war our country has embarked upon? Does this approach make sense to anyone anymore? Are we blind to the effect we are having in the world?

As the coalition of the willing disintegrates and the U.S. finds itself standing alone in the world, is it not clearly time for a new approach to engaging in the world? Nation building, military intervention, and unilateralism have failed to achieve our national interests and to make the world safer.

Imagine for a moment if four years ago we had taken a different course, a course of coalition building, working closely and in harmony with all our allies, talking to instead of threatening our perceived enemies, embracing rather than rejecting international law and treaties, respecting and advancing the diplomacy of the United Nations, and finally building upon the goodwill of the world after 9/11 by remaining focused on the real terrorist threat to the world? Al Queada and Osama Bin Laden.

Can we begin down a new path? What better way than for each person on Monday, March 19, 2007 to call or write to his or her representative or senator demanding an end to the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

On this fourth anniversary, I proclaim: Bring the Troops Home Now- Let This Be the Last Year of the Occupation of Iraq.