This letter about the US in Iraq was published today in Miami Herald:

Out of Iraq

Forget the faux-patriotic rhetoric! It is time to stop funding this Mideast debacle. No good can come from the United States remaining in Iraq. Anyone who thinks this administration cares about the health, welfare and voting practices of the Iraqis any more than it did about residents of the Ninth Ward in New Orleans is mistaken.

The Bush administration wants to use military bases throughout the world to guarantee control and flow of energy resources. Bravado aside, this administration understands virtually nothing about the security of this nation. No one was even fired after the worst security breach in our history. It believes that superior firepower is all that is needed. Might makes right.

The administration shreds international treaties and laws with the ease that it shreds our Constitution. Since we aren't in Iraq to help the Iraqi people, or even U.S. security, but rather for oil companies, every day that we stay is one day worse for Iraqis and for our security here at home.

ALAN KOBRIN, Miami Beach