U.S. is engaged in wars it cannot win militarily

To the editor:

After an almost two-year war on terrorism and in spite of a $25 million reward on his head, Osama bin Laden and most of the hierarchy of his terrorist network remain at large. Long after his government was toppled, Saddam Hussein, his sons and most of the upper echelon of the Iraqi government are not in custody

In the meantime, the sons and daughters of the working class and the poor continue to spill their blood and give their lives in another conflict that history tells us cannot be won militarily. Our forces have very limited experience in long-term, land-based operations in 120-degree desert heat in Iraq or in rugged mountainous terrain in Afghanistan. Now there is talk of sending troops into Liberia, thereby stretching our forces as well as our resources even further.

Once more we are facing enemies who are indistinguishable from civilian populations. Once again children are killing our sons and, this time, our daughters. And again we find ourselves facing enemies fighting wars of ideology and religious and cultural zeal.

We do all this with the government feeding us a daily swill of lies, misrepresentations, half-truths and propaganda. The greatest oxymoron of them all is still what it was 30 years ago when I was in Vietnam: U.S. military intelligence.

EDWARD A ROVNER

Cape Girardeau