It's time to cut war losses and bring soldiers home

It's time to cut war lossesand bring soldiers home
EDITOR:
Prior to last Memorial Day, four American ex-POWs were interviewed by The Vindicator. The reporter asked my views on the Iraq war. I made the statement that "we are being bamboozled by our own government and that containment was the way to go."
For that I was criticized by some. Now that this administration has admitted that the president "misspoke" and stretched the truth, what do the critics say now? We are in a no-win situation. Our young soldiers are being murdered every day. What for? Those people don't want us or our way of life. Why don't we just get out?
We haven't found a guy on horseback and now we can't find one in his own back yard. The bounty is $25 million on each. No takers. They are being hidden by their own. What are we doing?
Colin Powell sat before the United Nations and the nation declaring that Iraq had tons and tons of WMD. Not one trace has been found. Even Powell was taken in by lies. We have isolated the United Nations and lost some of our most valuable allies.
We must get rid of the warmongers. We must stop trying to baby-sit the world. We do not belong in that position; we never have. This administration told us that our troops would be welcomed with hugs and kisses and flowers. Now they are coming home in body bags. This war is now a guerrilla war. Remember Vietnam? Let's hope so.
England is coming down hard on Tony Blair for his part in this fiasco. It is time for this country to do the same to our so-called leaders. They have put a muzzle on Rumsfeld, thank God. They have put the vice president someplace that nobody knows. Now we have people who nobody has heard of emerging to carry out this policy. They have no experience that qualifies them for the position they are in.
It is time to get out of Iraq and Afghanistan and let them live their own lives. Take our losses and bring our soldiers home.
Let's face the truth and take care of our own. Let's get our economy in order and put our people back to work. We are spending $4 billion a month in Iraq. Yes, that is $1 billion a week. Our national debt is out of sight. Will somebody please explain this in a way that makes sense? It appears that the tail is wagging the dog.
ROBERT J. THORNTON
Austintown
Blackout is reminder for usto find alternative sources
EDITOR:
Last week's power outage has made us all aware that maybe we need an alternative source of energy.
I can remember when Leavittsburg generated its own electricity from a power plant at the dam.
I am sure that Ohio Edison offered electricity at a cheaper rate than what it cost to produce just to shut down any independent power producers. Then they could raise rates and become a monopoly.
My question is, has FirstEnergy donated any money to the Mahoning River cleanup, including removing dams that could be rebuilt into electric generating facilities?
Remember, auto manufacturers subsidized the removal of street-car tracks in many cities to sell more automobiles.
This blackout will, no doubt, result in electric companies' asking for a rate increase to rebuild the grid.
I say use the money to harness river power and get off the grid!
If there was a local power generating company, perhaps I wouldn't have been flooded when the power went out July 21.
NOLAN SAUKKO
Leavittsburg