BRING THEM ALL THE WAY HOME

The Sage has a young former co-worker to whom he's served as mentor, friend and counselor, who is serving in Iraq near Sadr City. George called him this week and they talked for nearly an hour. "What's he saying about the situation there?" I asked. "Does he see any improvement since 'the surge'? How's morale?"

Basically, George said that his squad is standing in the middle of a civil war with both opposing sides shooting at them. They were supposed to come home in two months, but the day that he called they were told that they'd be staying at least until August and maybe for six more months. Morale, he said, is pretty poor. They don't see what good they're doing, and they want to come home.

If Bush wants so much to "give the troops what they need," he should consider bringing them home from Iraq instead of sending more troops to serve as cannon fodder. He might also want to invest a little personal thought and labor in improving the situation at Walter Reed Hospital and the VA hospital system blinding-quick so that our homecoming troops could get the assistance they need in rebuilding the lives that his actions took from them.