This is an unpublished letter that I sent to the Editor of the Worcester Telegram-Gazette on 12/15/2006.
To The Editor:
When John McCain cannot be any more precise than saying we need 15,000 to 30,000 more troops in Iraq, then you know he is just guessing. Also, when the suggested increase is only 10% to 20% of the current deployment, you know this isn't likely to turn around a disaster into a victory.
If John McCain said we needed to double or triple the number of troops, then I'd think he was being serious. Of course, to make that large an increase we would need to reinstate the draft as suggested by Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel, incoming head of the House Ways and Means Committee.
If McCain further put a price tag on the increase and had some ideas as to how we were going to pay for it, then I might think there was an actual plan to win this war.
If I don't hear ideas such as these from McCain or from the President, then I know that we are just stalling for time until we cut and run. Why would we want to waste more of our soldiers' lives, if we knew that we would eventually cut and run anyway?
/Steven Greenberg