Iraq War: Why doesn't he talk about the GOOD things?

Here's another critic of the Iraq War:

It appears history is repeating itself. Prior to Vietnam we should have learned from the French, who had experienced disasters in both Vietnam and Algeria. However, the Bush administration is plagued with poor leadership, myopic planning and botched (though very expensive) intelligence because this Iraq “war” was an invasion of a country that was never a threat to Americans. As a result, we are again responsible for the deaths, injuries, imprisonment and homelessness of hundreds of thousands of innocent people.

This administration is in the process of constructing 14 “enduring bases” in Iraq and is seeking an additional $592 million for a secure diplomatic compound (new embassy) in Baghdad. What a waste of precious American resources — and why? Is it because Iraq contains the world’s second largest oil reserves? If so, for those of you choosing a career in the Army, you know your future.

- Ed Thornburg (retired) of Würtzburg, Germany in the military's paper Stars and Stripes Letters to the Editor 05/22/05

I believe the recent news about consolidation of troops into four major bases may make his information on the bases somewhat dated.  But it's another example of the wide range of opinion that can sometimes be found in military publications.  The Letters to the Editor section of Stars and Stripes also has the virtue of being vetted by a real newspaper, as opposed to the many "soldiers' letters" that pop up in the rightwing Web all the time.