Let's bring home soldiers now

In a few weeks it will be the five-year anniversary of President Bush's landing aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln announcing "Mission Accomplished." Given that pronouncement, why are our soldiers still in Iraq?

It certainly doesn't have anything to do with WMD; or securing oil revenues to pay down our $9 trillion debt; or bringing stability to the region.

Here we are five years later fighting a guerrilla war, supporting a puppet government, and maintaining 140,000 troops in a country with values very different from our own. Doesn't this sound familiar?

I think the main reason we are still in Iraq is because we are too afraid to admit we messed up, and we are too afraid to imagine people scrambling onto helicopters as they fly off. We are afraid of reliving that scene from Vietnam. And President Bush will do anything to avoid having that type of photo published next to his May 2, 2003, photo op in a jumpsuit.

Admitting we made a mistake is the first step toward healing.

Recalling the troops is the first step toward saving their lives, bodies and minds.

Unfortunately, we have relearned the old lesson -- it's easier to start a war than it is to stop it. Hopefully we will apply that lesson the next time we think invading another country is good idea.

Kevin O'Neill | North Aurora