May wrong on Obama’s Iraq call

In Blog Talk (A-J, Nov, 21) Donald May writes: “Barack Obama is pulling all U.S. combat troops out of Iraq, an action taken against the advice of his generals and common sense.” May’s opinion.

Fact: The Status of Forces Agreement signed November 2008, during the administration of George W. Bush, states in Article 24: “All the United States Forces shall withdraw from all Iraqi territory no later than Dec. 31, 2011.” Obama is implementing an agreement made between Bush and the Iraqi government.

Constitutionally, the military is under the command of a civilian commander-in-chief, and the Cuban Missile Crisis proved the wisdom of our Founding Fathers to have civilian leadership temper the decisions of generals who might be too inclined toward military action.

As for common sense, Bush and Cheney started a preemptive war on a country and its leader who were no immediate threat to the security of the U.S. No weapons of mass destruction were located, and Bush/Cheney funded this war off-budget with borrowed dollars. Where is common sense in that scenario?

Does Mr. Conservative really believe eight years in Iraq is too brief; that 4,485 U.S. military deaths and 100,000 plus Iraqi civilian deaths are too few; that a trillion dollars is too little to pay for this war of choice? If so, May is out of step with 78 percent of Americans who agree with the decision to withdraw U.S. forces (Washington Post-ABC News poll).

GRACE ROGERS/Lubbock