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To win or not to win: That is the question

Dear Editor:Senators McCain and Lieberman came to Aspen recently to inform us that we must “win” the war in Iraq. I keep wondering what that word “win” really means. Out of the mouths of two former (and they would both hope to be future) presidential candidates, it is often hard to know the meanings of any words they may use.John McCain, the son of an admiral, fought in Vietnam and has always regretted that the U.S. did not “win” in Vietnam. The U.S. war in Southeast Asia killed, according to Robert McNamara (who was very good with numbers), some four million people. Did we not kill enough people? How many Iraqi people should we kill, to “win”? Actually, one of the main raßtionales for the Vietnam War was the so-called Domino Theory. That is, if we failed to stop the Communists there, they would spread throughout Southeast Asia, and worse. I guess we actually won because the Communists never did take over Australia. Good on ya!Now the U.S. has invaded Iraq. The object was to replace Saddam, as we have been told endlessly. O.K., he is in jail. Good. The job is done. So go home.Where did it say that, oh, by the way, there must be a wonderful new democratic constitution? Or where did it say that there would be a host of new U.S. military bases in Iraq, occupied by U.S. troops indefinitely? You know, winning is wonderful. We have a whole society based on winning. From the day you hit the maternity ward, it is one contest after another. (“How much did he weigh?” “Oh, he’s the biggest today.”) We need to do some serious thinking about the “winning” thing. Let’s put it this way: What would it take for the Iraqis to win? Iraqis win? Isn’t that what it was supposed to be all about? Bottom line: By all the goals stated by Bush and company, we have already won. The longer we stay, the more we will lose.Enough already. Go home. Send them checks to put their lives and their country back together. If we are really nice (with big checks), they may sell us some of their oil.Patrick HunterCarbondale