An Open Letter to Senator Coleman

Dear Senator Coleman:

I am asking this both as a constituent, and as one whose son sacrificed nearly two years of his young life serving in Iraq: With all due respect, would you and Senator Warner quit trying to micromanage the Iraq conflict?

Your call for troop withdrawal, as "symbolic" as it may be, should not be yours, Senator Warner's, Senator Reid's, nor any other senator nor congressman.

That call should be made by the Commander in Chief, in consultation with the generals on the ground.

I can see no reason for your call for a "symbolic" troop withdrawal, other than for political calculation.

You seem to be trying to walk a fine line between pleasing the rabid anti-war folks who will settle for nothing less than unqualified defeat, and those of us who want to stay the course until the mission is complete.

In reality, you are "pleasing" neither side. In reality, you are only complicating things with rhetoric. Our enemy in Iraq (and, incidentally, around the globe) needs to hear the unequivocal message that there is no chance for him to succeed. He does not get that message when he hears heartening news that micromanaging politicians in the United States want to remove the force that is keeping him from achieving domination of Iraq and its oil-rich resources.

In the midst of what can only be called unqualified successes with regard to the surge, your timing couldn't be worse. Let the surge take its course; let General Patraeus and President Bush make their rightful decision of when it is proper to pull our troops.

Sincerely,

Leo Pusateri
St. Cloud, Minnesota