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A debt of gratitude?

Dear Editor:The president’s “new strategy” for fixing his disaster in Iraq boils down to this: The so-called Iraqi army, under the direction of a newly born Iraqi government, is going to win a fight that the “world’s most powerful military force” has not. Mind you, the Iraqi military has little training, no weaponry beyond some light arms, no helicopters or armored vehicles, no supply program, no system of medical treatment, no communications system, and no cash for paychecks that doesn’t come from the U.S.The U.S. political class has already moved to blaming the Iraqi people for not letting the U.S. “win.” The politicians will always follow their strongest instincts: to cover their own asses.Lest we forget, most of these politicians voted for this fiasco. It’s a proud American tradition: When you screw up, blame someone else.The only scientifically conducted study of Iraqi deaths since the U.S. invasion in 2003 places the total Iraqi dead at over 600,000. That may seem exaggerated until you see that a separate current estimate of Iraqi children deaths for the war years is 230,000. This is what we have done to Iraq; and President Bush said on “60 Minutes” that the Iraqi people owe us a “huge debt of gratitude.”Patrick HunterCarbondale