We heard our president say “mission accomplished” in Iraq over one year ago. Since then, more than 696 innocent U.S. soldiers have been killed and approximately 3,800 wounded. America has suffered 91 percent of the deaths and 95 percent of the wounded. Some coalition Bush has.

Vice President Cheney said the war would take weeks not months. Try years.

Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld has announced that we will keep 135,000 troops in Iraq until the end of 2005, two years longer than President Bush promised. Maybe Cheney meant 200 weeks.

The extended stay will cost the taxpayer billions more than Bush said it would.

Secretary of State Powell told the U.N. that Saddam had over 500 tons of chemical weapons. The U.N. did not believe him. Where are they?

We came to free Iraq, now we find out that we are torturing Iraqi prisoners in the same prison where Saddam tortured them. The photos are disgusting and show sex crimes. The Arab world is not too impressed with Bush’s failure to properly train our forces.

The war has caused the deficit to skyrocket. Bush will ask for billions more for Iraq and ignore domestic problems. The money spent in Iraq could have insured millions.

I thought the war on terror was against al-Qaida? I guess Bush has forgotten about who committed the terror on Sept. 11.

If we catch bin Laden, it will be due to the bravery of our individual soldiers, not Bush’s obsession to conquer Iraq.

Ed Rabasco Jr., Poland

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