FLAIT

Published on Jan. 29. Portions were omitted and replaced for this posting.

"War in Iraq is worth the cost" (Letter to the Editor, Jan. 25) says the world is "better off" without Saddam Hussein. Well, let's see what it's cost to capture him...so far: over 2,000 American soldiers killed, over 16,000 wounded, over 100,000 Iraqi casualties, and more then $200 billion.

Iraq's infrastructure is destroyed, there are bombings and shootings every day, militias control some areas, and what was a stable secular society that woman were part of under Saddam Hussein is now an unstable Islamic theocracy that is taking their rights away.

Our military is stretched dangerously thin, we have no way out, and Iran and North Korea are developing nuclear weapons to defend themselves against what they perceive as a madman in the White House.

The war has done wonders for terrorist recruitment and fund raising, and because Mr. Bush pulled troops out of Afghanistan in 2002 to go off on this wild goose chase in Iraq, it has allowed the Taliban to return and al-Qaeda to reform globally.

If that's not enough, should a civil war break out and spill into Saudi Arabia, it would give Osama bin Laden the opportunity to topple the Saudi Royal family, which has been his goal all along (that sound you hear is bin Laden laughing hysterically at his favorite person in the world: George Bush).

So obviously we'd be much better off if Saddam Hussein - who had no WMDs and wasn't a threat - was still in power. In fact, this senseless war is such colossal disaster that we'll be paying dearly for it in a number of ways, forever. And Mr. Bush should be held accountable the same way Republicans would hold former President Clinton if this were all his doing - ah, misdoing: impeachment and imprisonment.

Over the next couple of weeks, I received nasty letters from two Bush supporters. So I responded with this Letter to the Editor. However, it wasn't published.

Since my letter appeared ("Immense cost for Iraq war" Jan. 29), I've received letters from two Bush supporters that was nothing but the typical immature ridicule and rhetoric you'd expect to hear on conservative talk radio.

President Bush uses the words "democracy" and "freedom" repeatedly in his speeches. So it's ironic that his supporters would intimidate and insult those who exercise those rights.

Mr. Bush's record is clear: incompetence for failing to demand "specifics" in 2001 that could have prevented the 9/11 attacks; arrogance that started an unnecessary and disastrous war in Iraq; indifference to Hurricane Katrina and its victims, soldiers without the proper armor, and an exploding budget deficit; and immaturity, by acting like a second grader giving the teacher the "dog ate my homework" excuse when it comes to Iraq's nonexistent WMDs, the deliberate leaking of a CIA agents identity, allowing prisoners to be tortured, the Jack Abramoff indictments, and wiretapping Americans without a warrant.

Mr. Bush's supporters don't have a toenail to stand on, let alone a leg. And yet, not only do they insult their own intelligence by defending the indefensible with erroneous facts, exponential hypocrisy, nasty belligerence and a haughty attitude, but continue to blindly follow their arrogant, incompetent, apathetic and immature "leader," no questions asked.

So George Bush - who has purposely divided the country for political reasons - may not be the only horror we're facing. What's scary is a Republican Party that's looking more like a cult everyday. And I got proof of that in my mailbox.