Look at war from Mideast viewpoint

If you don’t understand why the conflict in Iraq continues with no end in sight, you are likely looking at the situation from an American point of view. You should try to look at it from the perspective of people living in the Middle East. First of all, most people of that region resent the United States for its continued support of Israel. Then President Bush declared that Iraq was supporting al-Qaida and had weapons of mass destruction.

The United States invaded Iraq, but there were no WMDs and no evidence that Iraq was providing any support to al-Qaida. So there was no valid justification for this invasion. The Bush administration then insists that the security of the U.S. depends on us setting up a democratic government in Iraq, and that democracy will spread from Iraq throughout the Middle East. For people in this region who believe in their culture and their leaders, this is definitely a threat to their way of life!

So don’t be surprised that weapons and insurgents continue to pour into Iraq. Syria and Jordan obviously don’t want us to succeed in Iraq, as they do nothing to stem this flow of arms and men. President Bush insists that we “Stay the course.” But if the course was chosen in error, if the main accomplishments are spending billions of dollars and getting our brave military personnel killed with no viable plan to succeed, perhaps it is time change the plan.

Eric Selby

Lake Stevens