As a mother of a six-year-old son, I wonder about things like whether or not President Bushs proposed troop surge in Iraq will produce whatever end result the administration seeks.

Im afraid that bringing us closer to success is just not good enough for me. My sons future is at risk, and I have just a few questions for the president. I want to know, for example, what its going to take to achieve stasis in the area? What if sending in an additional 20,000 troops doesnt work? What then?

How many more? What happens next? Why dont we know this?

Surely, we can benefit from the lessons of Vietnam, principally in that we fell victim to our own prejudices and myopia. With the benefit of hindsight, we now know that the Domino Theory the purported reason for the Vietnam War was just that: a theory. We also know we were seriously misled by the leadership of this country at the time. We got it all wrong.

It took approximately 10 years of combat, and the loss of 58,000 young American lives, for the U.S. to arrive at these conclusions. In April 1975, the U.S. concluded its presence in Vietnam. A scant 20 years later, in 1995, under President Clinton, the U.S. extended full diplomatic recognition to Vietnam.

That war was as fractious as this one is now. What is different now, however, is that most agree Vietnam was a colossal error. What is the same, and most surprising, is the level of blind trust in the leadership of this country in the face of glaring and bipartisan disagreement with the Presidents conduct of the war.

As of Jan. 30, according to U.S. Department of Defense, a total of 3,075 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq and more than 23,000 wounded in action. Estimates vary on the total number of Iraqi fatalities a figure not found on the DOD website but is estimated to be between 400,000 to 600,000 since the beginning of the war.

The United Nations estimates that more than 34,000 Iraqis were killed in 2006 alone, and 440,094 have fled their homes since February 2006. This type of devastation and the figures accompanying it are numbing to most of us. We have the luxury of reading them on a computer or scrolling across CNN before moving on with our day.

The Iraqis do not.

Why incur all of this destruction? Is it for the oil? (I think weve finally acknowledged that there were neither weapons of mass destructions nor any connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda and the events of 9/11.)

Billions have been spent now, will be into the future, on this war that could have been spent developing means to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, funding the development of energy alternatives and pursuing diplomatic initiatives to ensure our interests in this region. This past week the Sun Journal reported President Bush requested $100 billion more for military and diplomatic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan this year.

For an administration that unfailingly concerns itself with turns on the stock market, this smacks of a bad investment.

By not vigorously leveraging our interests through diplomatic means, by not focusing our efforts on actively engaging Iraqs neighbors in securing the country, by relying on an increase in violence to end the violence, we risk a further expansion of the terrorist base.

Could a refocusing of our efforts now potentially avert a widening of the conflict to include elements within Iran and Pakistan? By adding troops, are we perhaps emboldening our enemies by fueling their contempt?

If the president insists on pursuing this surge, how many days will it take to educate Adm. William Fallon, the military commander slated to assume command of U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan? Fallon, when questioned by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., during a Senate confirmation hearing Jan. 30 about his understanding of Iraq policy, responded: Senator, I have not gotten into the details of these plans.

If confirmed, Fallon will assume command in March.

How many more Maine casualties are needed to jolt us into acknowledging that prominent Republicans indeed our own Sen. Susan Collins, who is just back from an exploratory visit to Iraq oppose this, dare we say it, escalation? Sen. Susan Snowe has also voiced her opposition. If they cannot justify the presidents surge policy, we cannot still cling to a hope that we are safer by staying this course.

My sons future, along with the political future of the incoming administration, is a foregone conclusion: heavy deficits will clog efforts to further any domestic agenda, and far-reaching taxes will appear to match the burden. This is what I think about in my more optimistic moments.

In others, I fear an expanded conflict sure to take many more lives. Will the presidents plan for adding a troop surge make us any safer? How many more lives will be taken before we awaken from this thwarted policy?

We must decide to stop the decider.

Jan Begert lives in Bowdoinham.