Iraq

AS A ARMY Reserve vet for six years, I can understand the need for the United States to police the world. But to spend billions on the war in Iraq is a definite waste of dollars. Mideasterners have been killing each other for more than 10,000 years. If the money our government is spending could be given to every U.S. citizen, and it would equal more than $1,000 for all 325 million Americans! Lawrence S. La Mantia, Philadelphia

AS THE SLIMY attacks against his military record and heroism intensify, Sen. John Kerry may have fallen into a trap smartly set by the right-wing - looking dumber on the war in Iraq than George W. Bush. President Bush, on the campaign trail, has asked Kerry if he would have invaded Iraq knowing what the country knows now: that there were no weapons of mass destruction. Kerry, perhaps in a fit of misplaced machismo, said yes, effectively blurring the distinction between the senator and the president over the wisdom of the war. That's not the view of many Americans.

IN JOHN Bruhns' "The Anti-war Phonies," he asserts, "If any candidate wants my vote, they first and foremost need to convince me that they will end the war in Iraq. " Hey, Bruhns, check the newswires. President Bush is ending the war in Iraq, no thanks to you. The surge is working. Peace is coming to Iraq. Vote peace. Vote Republican. Raoul Deming Chester Springs

THE OP-ED "The truth about Iraq" by Sen. Kerry and Patrick Murphy illustrates the real issue we face on Iraq. The question most Americans desperately want answered is, "What now?" While Kerry and Murphy offer specific ideas, the Bush administration, Rep. Fitzpatrick and countless other Republican leaders and candidates offer no new ideas, instead bombarding us with their tired "stay the course" mantra. Connell Boyle Blue Bell

RE ERIK Raske's Jan. 23 letter: My letter was not a direct comparison of Iraq to Philadelphia. It was an application of the left's rationale on Iraq on a problem closer to home and highlights the absurdity of the leftist position. Of course it would be silly to give up the fight against street crime just because of a high murder rate or because a particular crime-fighting strategy is not working. The fight against crime is a long, difficult process that has its ups and downs.

THE homicide rate in Philadelphia was astronomical last year, making comparisons of Philly and Iraq almost plausible. Yet your paper prints opinions almost daily that contain leftist rants about how horrible President Bush is. Why not write something about Mayor Street and the lack of leadership he has provided? He made time for photo-ops with drug dealers, but can't do anything about the murder rate in the city. William Davis Wallingford

Iraq is to hand over to the Red Cross more than 20 journalists missing since Sunday and up to 2,000 Kuwaitis taken across the border before Baghdad withdrew from Kuwait, the Cable News Network reported today. The information was given to CNN in a live report from Kuwait by an official of the International Committee of the Red Cross. He said the Red Cross was taking medical supplies into Iraq's second- largest city of Basra and would bring out the journalists and Kuwaitis, probably tomorrow.

PRESIDENT Bush has brainwashed the American public about Iraq. He has lied about weapons of mass destruction. He has not captured Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden. As commander in chief, he has not shown any grief for our brave and fearless men and women who are dying in a war he said was over. He will, however, write a check for $87 billion to help Iraq. Iraq is more important to him than any American, and he is showing you 87 billion reasons why. Sadeek Green Philadelphia An interesting experiment that can be done at home: Turn the volume all the way down on your TV the next time President Bush is speaking live.

RE ARLEN SPECTER and the war: On Feb. 6, Sen. Specter joined with all but two Senate Republicans to block any debate on the nonbinding Iraq war resolution. As of this writing, Feb. 9, 14 more service members died in Iraq: 14 dead Americans in 3 days. I can understand that it's embarrassing and politically risky to admit you've been wrong, especially when you've sent over 3,000 American soldiers to their deaths on the basis of WMD intelligence that the Pentagon inspector general now describes as "of dubious quality or reliability.

QUESTIONS for President Bush: If Saudi Arabia is found to be secretly supporting our enemies, what are you going to do, punish Iraq? If they are found to have the blood of thousands of Twin Tower victims on their hands, are you going to punish Iraq? If you find the Saudis guilty of harboring our enemies, are you going to punish Iraq? If you find out that Saudi Arabia set up phony charities to give money to terrorists who only want to kill Americans, are you going to punish Iraq?

BAGHDAD - Iraq's wave of bloodshed sharply escalated Monday with more than a dozen car bombings across the country, part of attacks that killed at least 95 people and brought echoes of past sectarian carnage and fears of a dangerous spillover from Syria's civil war next door. The latest spiral of violence - which has claimed more than 240 lives in the last week - carries the hallmarks of the two sides that brought nearly nonstop chaos to Iraq for years: Sunni insurgents, including al-Qaeda's branch in Iraq, and Shiite militias defending their newfound power after Saddam Hussein's fall.

AN IRAQ WAR veteran is suing the city, claiming he was roughed up by police and illegally detained for taking a cellphone video during the confrontation. The alleged incident happened Easter Sunday on 13th Street near Rodman in Center City, according to a lawsuit filed yesterday in federal district court. The complaint was filed on behalf of Roderick King, an Air Force veteran from Lansdale, and Thomas Stenberg, Sara Tice and Brian Jackson, all of Philadelphia. The suit claims the four friends were walking on 13th Street about 2 a.m. March 31 when they saw a Philadelphia police officer in a marked SUV driving erratically.

BAGHDAD - Clashes spread to a key northern city and gunmen took over a town elsewhere in Iraq on Thursday, raising the death toll from three days of violence to more than 150 people as a wave of Sunni unrest intensified. The turmoil is aggravating an already-sour political situation between the Shiite-led government and Sunnis, who accuse Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government of neglect and trying to disenfranchise their Muslim sect. Maliki appeared on national television appealing for calm amid fears that the country is facing a return to full-scale sectarian fighting more than a year after U.S. troops withdrew.

BAGHDAD - Iraq has executed 21 prisoners convicted on terrorism charges and links to al-Qaeda, the Justice Ministry said Wednesday, setting off fresh criticism from a human-rights expert over Baghdad's insistence on enforcing capital punishment. The prisoners were executed by hanging Tuesday in the Iraqi capital, according to a statement posted on the ministry's website. All the convicts were Iraqi al-Qaeda operatives who were involved in bombings, car-bomb attacks, and assassinations, the statement said.

BAGHDAD - Insurgents in Iraq deployed a series of car bombs as part of highly coordinated attacks that cut across a wide swath of the country Monday, killing at least 55 on the deadliest day in nearly a month. The assault bore the hallmarks of a resurgent al-Qaeda in Iraq and appeared aimed at sowing fear days before the first elections since U.S. troops withdrew. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but coordinated attacks are a favorite tactic of al-Qaeda's Iraq branch.

BAGHDAD - A suicide bomber blew himself up Saturday at a lunch hosted by a Sunni candidate in Iraq's regional elections, killing 20 people, officials said. The blast ripped through a hospitality tent pitched next to the house of Muthana al-Jourani, who is running for the provincial council and held the lunch rally for supporters, councilman Sadiq al-Huseini said. The attack took place in Baqouba, a mixed Sunni-Shiite city 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. Insurgent attacks and sectarian bloodletting have been rampant there in the decade since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

  When Army Sgt. Paul Costello returned home to West Chester from an 18-month tour in Iraq in 2006, he "went on vacation for three months," he said, laughing. "I was so burnt out," he said. "I was just so happy to be home. " But his initial relief was short-lived, he said. He grew depressed and suicidal. He began drinking almost every day - "I was trying to go out and have as much fun as possible," Costello, 28, said. "I felt I had missed out on so much. " He worked 80-hour weeks to keep his mind off the nightmares and the insomnia, the memories of 18 months in war-torn Ramadi, "which was and still is one of the worst places in Iraq," he said.

IRBIL, Iraq - At an elite private school in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, children learn Turkish and English before Arabic. University students dream of jobs in Europe, not Baghdad. In the decade since U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq, Kurds have trained their sights toward Turkey and the West, at the expense of ties with the still largely dysfunctional rest of the country. Aided by an oil-fueled economic boom, Kurds have consolidated their autonomy, increased their leverage against the central government in Baghdad, and are pursuing an independent foreign policy often at odds with that of Iraq.

BAGHDAD - Syria's civil war is increasingly threatening to destabilize neighboring Iraq, widening a sectarian divide in a nation still reeling from the messy aftermath of the U.S. invasion a decade ago. Iraqi officials have expressed alarm in recent weeks as fighting between troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and the armed opposition has spilled across the border. After staying on the sidelines for more than a year, Sunni tribes in Iraq that straddle the frontier have decisively joined the effort to topple the Alwawite Shiite-led government in Damascus.

BAGHDAD - Just days after the 10th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry confronted Baghdad for continuing to grant Iran access to its airspace and said Iraq's behavior was raising questions about its reliability as a partner. Speaking to reporters during a previously unannounced trip to Baghdad, Kerry said that he and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had engaged in "a very spirited discussion" on the Iranian flights, which U.S. officials believe are ferrying weapons and fighters intended for the embattled Syrian government.