Monday, July 30
To the editor:

The terrorist trap Bush and his Congress keep America enmeshed in is getting bigger, stronger and more deadly day by day.

This is not opinion; it's a fact. The senseless surge of 38,000 more troops is working perfectly (for the terrorists). There's a surge in U.S. troop deaths, Iraqi civilian deaths and money being wasted — $10 billion a month for the war. No figure can be put on the hundreds of other costs related to the war.

Our leaders continue to daydream, and the results are a nightmare. Terrorism will never be stopped as long as the U.S. continues to meddle in the Mideast with demands and threats, and to mind everybody else's business but our own. How can anyone with even half a brain think the Iraqis can stand up and take charge? There's nothing left to take charge of. The country has slowly but surely been destroyed by the Bush government.

Washington mouthpieces keep babbling on. The latest fabrication is that the Iraqi Congress has completed eight of the 18 benchmarks we set for them. Probably not true, but if it is, that's eight more than our Congress has completed. Major General Joseph F. Fil, head of U.S. forces in Baghdad

recently said, "Casualties are mounting because extremists are starting to fight very hard." What a brilliant deduction. Even George might have been able to figure that one out.

Each new general seems to accomplish less than the one before, but by all means, don't offer any suggestions; the military knows best. June ended with the deadliest three-month troop death count (334) since the invasion. Nearly 55,000 soldiers have been wounded, 15 for every one killed. Lifetime care for the wounded up to this month is estimated by Harvard University to cost up to $650 billion. The wounded totals are misleading because the government has a distorted way of counting them. The Department of Defense counts only those needing air transport to a major military hospital. Apparently those able to be treated in Iraq don't count.

The number of people being killed by terrorism around the world, resulting from the Bush invasion, can't even be counted and will probably never be known. From time to time, leaders are convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity. There is no one or no organization with guts enough to charge Bush, Cheney and at least half of Congress with these crimes.

Most of the candidates running now aren't worth voting for; they're all basically the same. If only someone life Dennis Ducinich, Chuck Hagel, Mike Gravel or Bill Richardson could be elected, America might have a chance to get back on track again. There are a (few) good Republicans in Congress and certainly more good Democrats, but no one could pay me enough to belong to either party. I've been both. I'm amazed there are still people willing to be Republican. The party should be outlawed and a sensible new one formed. Then the Democrats would have to get their act together in a hurry.

The 140 high school presidential scholars sure surprised "Clueless George" when they presented him a handwritten letter at the White House asking that torture and illegal confinement at Guantanamo be stopped. Hooray for them! Any one of the distinguished students in that group could run the country better than the clowns in charge now.

Mark Twain said, "I love my country all the time, and I love my government when they deserve it." Hope and pray that after Jan. 20, 2009, I can love my government again.

Norman Burdick

Williamstown

July 27