Heroic deeds

The Rio Grande Valley once again mourns the loss of one of our own to the hell that is war. Alton native Bradley Espinoza was killed Monday when an explosive hit his vehicle at Qayyarah West, Iraq — the military calls it
Q-West. He was in his third tour in Iraq, and his wife also serves in the Army; she is stationed at San Angelo.

More than 4,350 U.S. military personnel have died in the Iraq war. We pray the numbers don’t go up any more.

There is now no doubt that our war on Iraq was based on bad information, or misinformation, depending on whose account one accepts. As life in Iraq struggles to regain some semblance of normalcy after our forced ouster of Saddam Hussein, we should hold our resolve to returning control of the nation to its people.

Barack Obama’s successful campaign for the presidency was based in no small measure upon his stated opposition to our involvement in Iraq, and his promise to get us out. Americans must hold him to that promise.

“I will bring this war to an end in 2009,” he pledged. “It is time to bring our troops home.”

Since taking office, the president has strayed from that promise, and seems to be holding closer to the status of forces agreement U.S. and Iraqi officials signed toward the end of the Bush administration. It calls for a formal end of military operations around the end of 2010, with as many as 50,000 U.S. troops staying in Iraq until as late as 2012.

In the name of Espinoza and all those others who have given so much for their country, let’s be out by then.

In addition to the thousands killed, tens of thousands more U.S. troops have been injured, not to mention members of other coalition forces, private contractors and civilians. We’ve been fighting in Iraq longer than our entire involvement in World War II, and have spent more there than during the entire U.S. campaign in Vietnam, when adjusted for inflation. Analysts estimate that the total cost of the Iraq war could reach
$3 trillion, more than twice the amount of the record federal deficit that was announced last week.

Obama seems to be resisting the calls of some hawks for a permanent military presence in Iraq, and for this he is to be applauded. We agree with his stated preference for diplomacy over shows of force as our principal peacekeeping strategy. Americans should show their support for such a peaceful policy, and encourage that it be maintained.

Bradley Espinoza, like so many others, gave all he had for his country. We owe it to all of them to enact policies that will make a more peaceful world, so that their children will never have to face enemy fire.

We can begin by ending this war, as soon as possible.