Iraq war remains a deadly error

On Feb. 15, 2003 the Bangor Daily News published the following letter with 68 local medical signatories under the title: “No war without U.N. approval.”

“We, the undersigned doctors and health care providers in Bangor oppose a pre-emptive war with Iraq unless authorized by the United Nations. A pre-emptive war without the concurrence and support of the United Nations is inconsistent with and subverts many fundamental American principles. Such a war represents failure – a failure of diplomacy, of vision and of humanity. It represents a failure to remember the reasons for Sept. 11, a failure to deal with its causes and consequences, and a harmful diversion from our current war on terrorism.

“Such a war will divert attention and resources away from the urgent problems that confront our world: hunger, disease, poverty, misunderstanding and intolerance. Such a war will reduce our ability to respond to equally urgent problems here at home including education, jobs and medical care. We urge our leaders to rethink the current course they have set for our nation.”

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The past three years have confirmed our worst fears. The war in Iraq was and remains an error. It was based on faulty if not fabricated information. Compounding its error our government was unprepared to deal with the results of its military action.

Our persisting presence in Iraq has become part of the problem, not the solution. Rather than facilitating a return to normality we have increased the likelihood of eventual civil war and the emergence of a fundamentalist religious state.

Errors are a fact of life, never pleasant to commit and frequently hard to admit; but to pretend that they have not occurred is worse yet. Our president needs to acknowledge our error and have the courage to change our nation’s course.

As health care providers we understand. In the practice of medicine errors occur. Sometimes we arrive at a diagnosis or choose a course of treatment based on erroneous information – an incorrect lab test, a misinterpreted X-ray, or a flawed concept.

But when we become aware of the error we are obliged to change. Our patients, our colleagues and we judge ourselves in large part upon how well we admit and correct errors.

The lives of our sons and daughters, of our friends and neighbors are too precious to expend in the name of an identified error. We demand that our congressional representatives require the administration to remove our troops from Iraq.

This commentary was signed by Geoffrey Gratwick M.D., David Renedo, M.D., Stephanie Lash, M.D., Katherine Burgoin, M.D., Jan Ordway, M.D., William Sturrock, M.D., Bob Gause, M.D., Fadi Ajine, M.D., Yeo Tan, M.D., Ted Appel, M.D., Kevin Miller, M.D., Jim Grossman, PAC, Ann Holland, M.D., Jean Benson, M.D., Karen Hover, M.D., Judy McGann, M.D., William Wood, M.D., Peter Millard, M.D., Lucy Quimby, Ph.D., Dennis Chinoy, PAC, Wassim Mazraany, M.D., Doug Cowan M.D.