An introduction may be in order. I am an 82-year-old former Marine who spent about eight weeks in a hospital in World War II after being cut down by a Japanese machine gun. I believe I have put my money where my mouth is.

According to the Internet, our country spent $288 billion in World War II on over 16 million service personnel ($18,000 per soldier).

Some people have suggested that the Iraq war is costing us $3 trillion ($20 million per soldier) for the 1 million or so in service now; $20 million is about 167 times what we spent per soldier in WW II. That does not seem possible.

That is like saying that a $400 World War II rifle should now cost over $66,000?

Remember that we pay salary, shelter, food, uniform, medical care, equipment depreciation and ammunition costs whether they are in Iraq or Fort Snelling.

Some of those costs will increase in a war zone. We also have to pay for transportation to and from Iraq. I don’t think that we have lost a lot of big-ticket items such as destroyers, fighter aircraft, etc. as was the case in World War II.

I figure the Iraq War is worth whatever it is costing me. Remember that this country has spent a lot of blood and treasure from 1776 in seven large wars and other smaller wars for the freedoms we now have.

That expenditure of blood and treasure allows the anti-war people to conduct what I consider ill-conceived demonstrations against the war. After all, both political parties voted for this war. Those people are not required to put their lives on the line. All that is asked is that they help pay for the war and quit grumbling.

The more we get rid of the crazies who fly planes into our buildings, the better I will feel about the younger Guanellas who have to fly fairly often both in and outside of the U.S. as a part of their respective jobs. I think they are going to be safer because of the global war on terror.

I think those of us who are strong need to try to protect the weak. Saddam Hussein had rape rooms, tried to subjugate another country, tried hard to get weapons of mass destruction and gassed his own people. I feel that we have a moral responsibility to do something about such atrocities whenever we can.

We also owe a lot to the people of Iraq who have stood by us. They have a lot more courage than some Americans. After all how many of us would do the same thing knowing full well that someone may be out to kill us if the Americans leave?

Elwood Guanella

Alden