I read with interest M.D. Harmon’s July 25 column: “West stays silent as Christians face extinction in Iraq, Syria.” My overriding thought was: “Where was Harmon when all this trouble started?”

By that I mean, when we invaded Iraq, Harmon and so many others looked down upon those of us who spoke out against the war, going as far as to call us “un-American.” Yet so many of us said then that no good would come from it.

To this day they, and probably Harmon among them, still claim that what we got in Iraq was better than what they had with Saddam Hussein.

Seriously? Saddam was a nasty tyrant, yet he kept peace between the Sunnis and Shiites, kept Iran (Iraq’s new friend) in check, gave rights to women and, yes, gave rights to Christians.

But Harmon and his like ignored the lesson of Vietnam and, once again, supported the invasion of a country whose people, for the most part, hated us. I remember thinking at the time that I pitied the poor soul who would be president when we finally pulled our troops out, just as I pity the poor soul (probably Barack Obama, too) who will be president when we pull out of Afghanistan. Does anyone honestly think they won’t eventually fall to the Taliban?

No, the lesson should be: “Don’t invade countries unless: No. 1. We absolutely have to to survive. Or No. 2. We intend to take it over permanently. Otherwise, well, we get what we are now seeing in Iraq.”

So we did speak out. But M.D. Harmon just didn’t listen.

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