Bakersfield.com

Over 3,600 fine young Americans have lost their lives in Iraq and we're still no closer to victory than we were in 2004. Iraq is in the middle of a civil war and we are caught up in it.

President Bush and Vice-President Cheney lied to the American people to go to war in Iraq. They knew from the beginning that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction.  They claimed there was an Iraqi connection to 9-11. There never was.

So what was Bush's real reason to take us to war in Iraq?  Bush likes the fact that he has power around the world and he likes to use it. We cannot defeat an enemy that is willing to strap on explosives and blow himself upin order to kill many people around him. The Sunnis and Shiites have been fighting each other since shortly after the death of Mohammed, and they will never stop until one side is victorious over the other.

The entire U.S. government is corrupt from top to bottom. Billions of dollars have disappeared. We need to pull our troops out not next year but now. I salute the brave young men and women fighting in Iraq, but they have been led by the president. In the end we will pull all of our troops out and Iraq will be a Muslim state. I hate to say it but thousands have died in vain. The majority of the people do not want us there.

The enemy is using more and more powerful IEDs. It's a weapon we cannot stop. It kills and maims our young men and women every day.  There are more amputees in this war than ever in history.

When we clear a section of the country, the enemy just moves to another sectionof the country to set up shop. The American people do not want us in this war.

Bush has dug a hole so deep we cannot get out of it. I don't see us getting out until we have a new president in 2009.

It is time to call your Senator or Congressman to stop this war and bring our troops home. It is not just costing lives it is costing billions of dollars every month we are there. It's time to let your voice be heard. My heart goes out to the families left behind, the children who will never know a father or mother.