The Stranger ran my LTE

[Barrett808]

They edited out my comment about Saddam's feared Mukhabarat being reinstated by Bush. Also, the headline is theirs.

Jim

SAVAGE STUPIDITY

TO THE EDITOR: While it is a welcome development to have Dan Savage demanding the immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq ("It's Over, Over There," Aug 18, http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=22626), I wonder if Mr. Savage still labors under some of the illusions conjured by the neo-cons he criticizes.

The unpleasant fact is that Iraq is now a failed state of our own creation, and the feeble central government has largely reverted to its former brutality. There are credible reports of widespread torture and extra-judicial executions by U.S.-trained Iraqi police and "elite" forces like the Wolf Brigade. The BBC recently reported that these methods include drilling holes in elbows and knees before execution.

Not only has this criminal act produced a catastrophe, it has not even achieved the modest goal of eliminating Saddam-style tyranny. There must be accountability. Withdraw, yes. But withdraw, prosecute our war criminals, and pay reparations.

Barrett808

http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Letters?issue=22712

The original text is here -- I sent substantially the same letter to the Seattle Weekly a couple of weeks earlier, but they didn't print it:

My LTE re: "A Conservative Says: End the War"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=103&topic_id=143550