The divisions were sharp. Common ground? There wasn’t much. Good Americans were at great odds over Iraq.

That was then.

On Monday, four years after war in Iraq began, I spent some time reading letters to the editor. They appeared in The Herald in the months and weeks leading up to the invasion.

Knowing what we know now, some seem eerily prophetic.

“I believe the loss of life of American troops and innocent Iraqi civilians should be avoided, if at all possible,” Ralph Walster wrote in a letter published Jan. 19, 2003.

“Plus, there is the huge financial cost of rebuilding the destroyed infrastructure of the country and the ongoing costs if we are required to maintain troops in Iraq for years to come,” Walster’s letter said.

Reached at his Snohomish home Monday, Walster, 76, said his views haven’t wavered. His letter stated that United Nations inspectors should be allowed more time in their search for weapons of mass destruction. “They had the inspector in there. I definitely think it should have gone on longer,” Walster said.

Taking the opposite position, Bill Niles of Clinton wrote in support of military action, and he hasn’t changed his mind.

His letter of Nov. 24, 2002, had the headline, “Let’s inspect with Stealth bombers.”

“We could simply conduct an aerial inspection with two Stealth bombers – the first loaded with heavy armor-piercing bombs to open things up and expose what is there, the second loaded with 500-pound bombs to smooth out the rubble,” Niles wrote.

Today, the 82-year-old Niles remains steadfast in his support of a U.S. military presence in Iraq. “It would be absolutely ridiculous, idiotic, to set a given time to pull out, leaving the Iraqis favoring us completely without protections,” he said Monday. As for the length of the war, Niles said “the terrorists have been trying to keep this thing going.”

This is now, and our country is still marked by an angry divide. Go back four years, listen to the words of the letters. The depth and breadth of the gulf is dispiriting.

“When this coalition led by the U.S. starts striking at the heart of this terrorist group, we just pluck out the rest as they come out of hiding,” wrote Karl Allen of Everett in a letter published Nov. 11, 2002. “Sure beats a satanic loose cannon using nukes because he’s having a bad day.”

Laura Eachus, of Lynnwood, countered on Nov. 24, 2002, that terror should be targeted elsewhere: “If, as Bush says, our military is out scouring the world to find al-Qaida members, why is Bush diverting those military resources into a war with Iraq?”

“Nuclear capability in the hands of someone as ruthless as Saddam Hussein is a threat to us all. … The day Saddam’s regime is toppled, the world will become a much safer place,” wrote Bud Trubshaw of Granite Falls in a letter printed Oct. 2, 2002.

“It’s not whining to demand evidence,” was the headline on John McAlpine’s Dec. 26, 2002, letter. “Before Mr. Bush sends U.S. troops into combat, risking their lives and those of innocent civilians, I want to see the evidence,” wrote McAlpine, of Everett. “Iraq does not have the resources to attack the United States. To believe otherwise requires a leap of faith I’m not willing to take.”

More than four years after they were written, what I hear in the words from both sides is deep concern – for our country and for the world. They are the words of true believers.

McAlpine, a 56-year-old Marine Corps veteran, said Monday he takes no delight in the fact that the evidence he wanted to see never materialized.

“It’s kind of like winning a contest where there’s no first prize,” he said. “We were told over and over that if we didn’t save Vietnam, we would fall to the communists. Now they’re our trading partner.

“I’m just an average citizen, not holding any influence,” McAlpine added. “No one is going to listen to me.”

Imagine if the people with all the influence had listened.

Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlsteinjulie@heraldnet.com.