Is U.S. involvement in Iraq justified?

Donald W. Nieuwsma, Mesquite

Friday, June 6, 2008 | 2:05 a.m.

Just when is our beloved country going to quit believing it can police this wide and wicked world with its limited forces and resources? As a World War II veteran and a high school teacher during the ’60s, I lost two of my best former students to that hopeless conflict in Vietnam. It made me weep to see their names on that Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Now we’re engaged in another of our “noble endeavors” in a country that has our motives quite misinterpreted. No, we are not the Roman Empire seeking to subjugate inferior peoples. But it seems we are heading in a similar direction — the downfall of America — unless we change our ways. May a merciful higher power help us overcome our misguided efforts.

Hats off and a hearty salute to those who are bearing the burden of this war! Most of the rest of us are not suffering at all, as so many did during World War II, way back when, with almost half a million deaths suffered by our country alone, not counting millions worldwide. That war was considered totally justified, I think most would agree, to save the free world from tyranny.