The war in Iraq should be our central issue, yet we have let gossip about the two candidates dominate.

This is an insult to our service people, their families and the people of Iraq. At this point, more than 1,000 American service people are dead, 7,000 have been injured and $200 billion spent. The Iraqis have lost nearly 10,000 civilian lives, basic services are still hard to come by, and the country is plunging into lawlessness.

It is true that we have toppled a ruthless dictator, but there is no evidence Saddam was ever any threat to us. Now, Iraq is becoming another Afghanistan, attracting anti-American fighters and is a world center of terrorism.

Despite our efforts, the government of Iraq and the coalition authority hardly control even Baghdad. Many cities are “no-go areas” where neither we nor the Allawi government has real control. While we handed off power to the provisional government in July, since then the violence has escalated to unprecedented levels. Reconstruction is grinding to a halt as contractors pull out daily and the promised election is now in jeopardy because of violence.

President Bush accuses Sen. Kerry of being a flip-flopper, but what is the virtue in the president’s incessant, stubborn adherence to a course that has no legitimate basis and no plan for success? Our actions in Iraq have made the world less safe, not more, and it is draining vital resources from domestic and security needs. We need new leadership.

Steve Bien, Jay