It's somewhat amusing to see the Bush administration shifting back and forth from threatening to conciliatory. Presidential press secretary Dana Perino says that if the Iraqis don't sign a new security pact, "there will be real consequences, if Americans aren't able to operate there."
At the same time, a spokesman for Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, says, "We are not trying to pressure the Iraqis or force the Iraqis into signing anything they don't wish to sign."
The problem for Americans who wish to maintain a military presence in Iraq is that the Iraqis are no more welcoming to such an idea than many of their fellow Americans are. All this talk about security gains being reversed unless the United States keeps its military presence in Iraq indefinitely sounds like a self-interested plea to keep Iraqi oil fields under American control.
It's long past time to bring the troops home and to end this drain upon American resources. We need to leave Iraq to the Iraqis.
Richmond L. Gardner
Horsham
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