About a month before the invasion of Iraq, I wrote a letter to the president advising him not to go to war against Iraq.

With the no-fly zones that were set up after the first Gulf War, we had Saddam Hussein hemmed in. He was not a threat to anyone except his own people. With that in mind, maybe we should have invaded Uganda and Libya years ago. Maybe we should invade Sudan now.

Now we have invaded and lost a thousand soldiers. Countless Iraqis have also been killed by us and the insurgents. I told my son in May 2004 that if we leave now or 10 years from now, there will be civil war in Iraq. Guess what I heard on the news just this week: Government officials are now concerned about civil war in Iraq.

President Bush is wrong to think there will be an end to this insurgency. Look what has been going on in Israel and Palestine since 1948. Is he prepared to stay in Iraq for 60 years? Even if the elections are held in January, they will not be seen as legitimate by the insurgents and, as long as they can get explosives and rocket-propelled grenades, they will be wreaking havoc on the occupation force and the government they consider to be puppets of the occupation force.

We need to get our troops home before even more are killed. We need to let the chips fall where they may.

Rodney C. Kuhl, Rumford

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