Letter: A complex matter

Editor, Daily News:

The United States will never remake the Middle East into governments or a people similar to ours. It is not going to happen, ever.

Compare the mistreatment of Iraqi inmates by our military prison guards (with photos of underwear on their heads) to the beheadings of Western detainees, and the recent barbaric killings and mutilations of two soldiers in Baghdad.

Imagine if we had suicide bombers periodically blowing themselves up in crowds at Coastland Center or Germain Arena? Middle Eastern dispute resolution and culture are not the same as ours.

I think that our goals in Iraq should be to: one, do whatever it takes to promote a government, an army and a law-enforcement system in Iraq that will work in their culture, that will be strong enough to function and provide a level of protection so they can protect themselves, and two, then, and only then, dramatically decrease our presence in Iraq without departing too early.

History repeats itself. The first President Bush departed from Iraq too early, and that is one of the reasons we had to return and are there now. The question is: Will our politicians have the resolve to stay long enough and the wisdom to recognize when the time to depart for a second time arrives?

Establishing a set schedule for withdrawal from Iraq at this time will play into the hands of the enemies of our troops, and the terrorists of the world would like to see that. What a complex matter this is.

John Clapper , Naples