Letters to the Editor

To the Editor:
The president's proposed troop escalation in Iraq ignores the advice of key advisers, career military officers, and the clear will of the American people. Rather than sending more troops to Iraq, the United States should be engaging in regional diplomacy and preparing for a transition to Iraqi control of the country's security.
More than 25,000 U.S. troops have been killed or injured in this war and as many as half of a million Iraqi civilians have died since the invasion. I join with the American Friends Service Committee in calling for our government to bring our troops home now, support an Iraqi-led reconstruction and assure the American and Iraqi people that there will be no permanent U.S. bases on Iraqi soil.
Lasting peace in Iraq will come by investing in reconstruction and diplomacy, not further investment in a war with costs that are already too high.
Jacob Hunt, Portland