Larry Mason – 5/16/07

This page was last updated on May 16, 2007.

Defeat on several fronts; Larry Mason; Beaver County Times; May 16, 2007.

Among previous letters from Mr. Mason covering Iraq and energy were “When will troops leave Iraq?”, “Build another nuke plant,” and “America must disarm Iraq.”

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“America cannot afford to stay in Iraq for another five or 10 years, as it has done in Korea and other places.”

[RWC] We’ve been in Korea for about 57 years and Germany & Japan since World War II. Let’s also not forget about Kosovo. The last I checked, none of these countries pose a threat to the U.S.

“The war in Iraq has been badly mismanaged, and the reality is that the U.S. military and its coalition allies have been defeated in Iraq and the Middle East.”

[RWC] Note Mr. Mason doesn’t provide any evidence to backup his assertion of defeat.

“Just as important, or maybe even more important, the United States has been defeated economically. The Middle East is strangling America by raising the price of oil.”

[RWC] Given our economy, how can Mr. Mason assert, “the United States has been defeated economically?”

Regarding comment that the Middle East is “raising the price of oil,” that’s incorrect. The market controls the price of crude oil and refined products.

“Worst of all, a large part of the price of oil buys weapons that are used to kill American soldiers and non-Muslims all around the globe.”

[RWC] How much is a large part?