Exiting Iraq, Petraeus Says Gains Are Fragile

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/21/world/middleeast/21general.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=petraeus&st=cse&oref=slogin
- Hide quoted text ----------- Forwarded message ----------From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>Date: Thu, Aug 21, 2008 at 9:52 AMSubject: Exiting Iraq, Petraeus Says Gains Are FragileTo: letters@nytimes.com

To the Editor: No one should be surprised at general Petraeus' assessment that Iraq can't survive an American pullout. Those in the American government who have long wanted an indefinite American presence in the Middle East have engineered an Iraq that requires Americans to keep the sectarian factions from each others' throats. General Petraeus acknowledges that "it's not stable yet". It will never be stable. As soon as we pull out American troops and contractors a year from now or sixty years from now, Iraq will either dissolve in a bloodbath, or will be held together in the iron grasp of a new tyrant. The question we must ask is what do we gain in delaying that day. Is it worth someone's son coming home in a bag?Barry Levine- -1142 Brown AveLafayette, CA 94549