By Bill Douglass, trib.com

About 12 years ago, I wrote a letter to the editor opposing the Bush-Cheney invasion of Iraq. I didn’t really realize it at that time, what a complete disaster that war would turn out to be, I just thought it was totally unjustified and contrary to most American ideals, such as, respect for life. 

I remember clearly, the inflammatory rhetoric, mushroom clouds that would appear on the horizon if we failed to act. There were false allegations, about such things as Iraq’s involvement with al-Qaida, that the CIA and FBI found no credible evidence to back up. The Bush-Cheney administration persisted however, and eventually enough low-information voters were convinced, and we subsequently invaded the wrong country. The 9-11 terrorists, after all, were Saudis, not Iraqis.

Well, the reason I bring this up now, is that I get the sense that the Republican presidential candidates are intent on taking us down that road once more. By that road, I mean, a full-scale invasion, with tens of thousands of troops. The inflammatory rhetoric is there, with suggestions of carpet bombing. A few years back, when we still had a large force in Iraq, the CIA, upon studying the situation, determined that our Middle East strategy was actually creating terrorists faster than we were killing them. There’s nothing like the occupation of a country by foreign troops to boost terrorist recruitment.

We have been playing God in the Middle East for decades, and safe to say, it is not going well. Ironically, Bin Laden gave us the best advice regarding the Middle East, when he told us to get out.