Our Son Cannot Win an Iraqi Civil War

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/11/11/5150/

Our Son Cannot Win an Iraqi Civil War
by Craig and Kathie Jamison Cote

Veterans Day holds a special significance for us as the parents of a sergeant tank commander in the U.S. Army serving in Iraq.We could not be more proud of our son’s service to his country, and we could not appreciate more the sacrifices being made by families with loved ones in Iraq. However, we could not be more outraged by the Bush administration’s bungled handling of this war, or Sen. Susan Collins’ continued support for it.

President Bush has had more than four and a half years to implement a successful policy, but under his leadership the situation in Iraq has gone from bad to worse to where we are now. We have American men and women dying while policing someone else’s religious civil war.

Instead of accepting the reality of the situation on the ground and listening to the American people, the president continues to stand by a failed strategy and Sen. Collins follows him down this dangerous path, at times saying that she is against the war but refusing to support binding legislation to end it. She is the lone remaining member of our state’s congressional delegation to endorse the president’s failed policy.

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Our son and hundreds of thousands of other troops have fought heroically in Iraq. But they cannot win another country’s civil war. They are caught in the cross hairs of a mess that the Iraqis will ultimately have to clean up and will require a political, not a military, solution.

The troops understand this. They have witnessed their friends and fellow Americans being sent home in body bags while the president tells everyone how much progress we’re making in Iraq. The president has had his chance. In more than four years in Iraq, we’ve lost nearly 3,900 American troops and spent almost $500 billion. Deployments have been extended and our military has been stretched to its breaking point.

Last time we talked to our son, he asked us to make sure we vote next year for someone that would bring a responsible end to this war and bring him home safely. Rest assured we will.

Craig and Kathie Jamison Cote live in Franklin, Maine.

to swiftboat their son.