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What should we do in Iraq now?

In Their OWN Words

This story was reported and written by ANN GIVENS, BART JONES and GRAHAM RAYMAN.

June 5, 2006

More than three years after the United States invaded Iraq, the Pentagon reported last week that insurgent attacks against American forces in Iraq were at their highest level in two years. To many observers, the war seems to have entered a new phase of anarchy and violence.

As of Friday, 2,474 U.S. troops had died, while media reports stated that more than 4,000 Iraqi civilians had been killed in sectarian violence since January.

In many ways and in many settings, the war in Iraq is being fought at home, too. At family gatherings, backyard barbecues, American Legion halls, and around the dinner table, many Long Islanders are debating this question: What should America do in Iraq now?

That question was posed last week to people across the region. A mother of three; a Vietnam vet who lost a leg in that war; the father of a soldier killed in Iraq; a soldier finishing a yearlong tour at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad; a minister of a large rural church on the East End.

In their own words, here are their answers.

THE REV. CHARLES A. COVERDALE Minister, First Baptist Church, Riverhead

"America should reassess its purpose for going in, for staying and what issues would be raised if they had to make a decision to leave. I think they need to reassess that whole situation. But we should also not abandon the people there . . . There should be a way in which both governments come together and seek an honorable way of withdrawing. I was concerned about us going in there. I knew a lot of people would die and I knew it wouldn’t be an easy job just to get out. I think they should be out of there within at least two years. It’s time for them to make some withdrawal plans and talk to the American people about them."

JOHN D’AMICO Assistant chief, Bayport Fire Department

"Get out. I just think we’re losing way too many soldiers right now. I’m sure we’re in there for a good reason, but it’s getting to be a sad thing now. I thought we were going in there for a good reason and then we all found out that reason wasn’t really the reason we were there. I’d love to see them come out now. Obviously we’re not going to come out right away, but a slow pullout I think would be a good idea right now. I hate to see all these young men and women getting killed. I’m sure they went there for a good reason. I think there are way too many people dying . . . I would never want to see any of our guys get hurt any more than they are right now because they’re doing a fantastic job for us."

NANCY LEO-SLATER Supervised World Trade Center interior restoration after 1993 terrorist bombing, Glen Cove

The Bush administration dropped the ball on American diplomacy and its position as the leader of the free world in November of 2001 when they delayed sending ground troops into Afghanistan in search of Osama bin Laden. Instead, they misled American citizens into believing that invading Iraq would buy them security from terrorists. from ... Our congressional leaders followed Bush into a religious war between fundamental extremists, endangering the lives of every human being. We need to support our troops by bringing them home, as the current situation is not allowing them to perform the task they were assigned, and let the Iraqis decide their own future instead of being dictated to by the incompetent Bush administration."

U.S. ARMY SPC. SALVATORE A. ESPOSITO Of Farmingville, currently finishing a tour in Iraq, serving at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad

"We are not just fighting the history of that region, we are fighting a mind-set. I encountered men from all over the world while in Abu: Iraq, Iran, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and practically every country in Africa. Many of them had lived in Europe and even in our own backyard at one time and were fluent in several languages. Yet no matter where they were from or what borders they crossed, many of them shared the same driven thoughts against the U.S. . . . I promise you, my fellow Long Islanders, if we do not continue the fight over there, where it is easier for insurgents that hate democracy to take it to us, we will be fighting it here."

MARIANN ECKERT Mother of three, East Islip

"I support our troops unconditionally. What they’re doing over there is actually amazing. The hardest thing that I had to do was to attend the wake for Bobby Pope [Army Spc. Robert Pope of East Islip was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad last November], a boy my oldest son went to school with, and every day opening the paper seeing yet another serviceman who has lost his life. All these boys, you know, are somebody’s son. I put my trust in what the people are doing, the officials. They know better than I do, I imagine. When I heard there might be a chance of a draft, my heart broke. All the young men and women who have lost their lives, I think it would be horrible if we pulled out because what would be the sense of the people who lost their lives?"

JOSEPH GALLAGHER Outgoing commander of American Legion Post 269 in Patchogue, a U.S. Marine during the Vietnam era

"That’s a very tough question. If we just bail out, everybody who trusted us would probably be executed in a matter of months. Honestly, we shouldn’t have gotten in there, but now that we’re there, they’ve got a real mess and they better do something because they’ve got these kids out there putting them in real tough positions. I don’t know why more technology isn’t being used to help protect them. It’s a mess. I don’t know if they’re doing the right thing. The [Iraqi] government that’s in there, they’re still involved in nonsense, bickering, and they better shape up or they’re going to die. George Bush’s father thought it was a bad idea to go in there, and I agreed with him. I hate to see us bail out. It would give up any credibility in the entire world."

THOMAS KOLM Of Hicksville, his son, Cpl. Kevin T. Kolm, a U.S. Marine, was killed in Iraq in April 2004

"War is chaotic by nature with a matrix of unforeseen issues. It can't be simplified with timelines and statistics. I am a 57-year-old former Marine Vietnam veteran and retired entrepreneur. When planning, you 'put your plans in sand and your goals in concrete.' This goal is a democratic Iraq with a constitution and an operating government. Those successfully completed objectives are your only true benchmarks, not the number of body bags. Unfortunately, we never see the accomplishments, such as new or repaired power plants, schools, sewers, hospitals, telecommunications services, homes or businesses. Iraq is the size of California and all we hear about in the media are the same few cities. What's going on in the rest of the country? I'd maintain force levels as the officers in the field require. As Iraq steps up to its own responsibilities we will obviously step down."

CHRISTIANA DIMATTESA Of Franklin Square, works in marketing