With all due respect to Sen. Susan Collins, her op-ed (BDN, July 12-13) veers so far from reality that it insults the intelligence of an informed constituency.

This PR puff piece is published (coincidentally?) at a time when the Bush administration, under fire, desperately points fingers of blame at the CIA to justify invading a country based on distorted intelligence and fabricated documents.

There is no doubt Hussein was/is a murderous tyrant, but to use that as moral justification, post invasion, is to distract from the original reason, possession of weapons of mass destruction. So far, like Hussein, not found.

Troop morale is “high”? Perhaps, but a simple search on Google, using the keywords “troop, morale, Iraq,” brought up sources from ABC News to the Christian Science Monitor reporting troop morale hitting “rock bottom.” No wonder, as the death toll since hostilities “ended” averages one a day. With no foreseeable end to the American presence, and hazardous duty and benefit pay cut by the Bush administration, how long can morale remain “high”?

Local Iraqi citizens calling out “Thank you, America”? Perhaps, but when the citizens of Iraq find out that their only real source of wealth, oil, is being mortgaged to pay for reconstruction (whose beneficiaries include Bechtel and Halliburton), and that they are saddled with $30 billion of debt, will they remain “thankful”?

Senator, why should any other country “contribute” troops when it is clear the American presence is unwelcome and meeting resistance? Any government with common sense would not want to get involved in this disaster.

The lesson I am learning from Iraq is that those in power will tell us anything but the truth.

Sam Lacey

Mount Desert