The time to leave Iraq, Afghanistan and the rest of the Middle East with military troops on the ground is way past overdue. Count me as one who thought the initial strike in Afghanistan was necessary and justifiable. Frankly, we did good work there until getting involved in Iraq.

Again, I was taken in on weapons of mass destruction being in the hands of madman Saddam Hussein. It turned out to be faulty intelligence. The moment we found out there were no weapons of mass destruction should have been our exit day from Iraq.

Our quest to catch Osama Bin Laden and bring him to justice for his part in the slaughter of nearly 3,000 innocent men, women and children in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks overshadowed better judgment in Afghanistan.

Since May 2007, over 80 coalition troops — 16 this year — have been murdered at the hands of Afghan troops.

They were shot down by those we are there trying to train to protect themselves and their countrymen. I have yet to hear Harmid Karzai apologize for one of our losses.

It is as though our blood is irrelevant, but let one of ours go berserk and kill an Afghan and the apologies and money ($860,000 for the latest 16 killed and six injured) are immediate from this administration. There is a double standard and our involvement there needs to end today, if not 10 years ago.

We need to mind our own affairs and leave the Middle East to take care of theirs with the clear understanding of hands off Israel. We, being the infidels, cannot win these wars as they are being prosecuted. It is reminiscent of Vietnam all over again.

It should be quite clear by now even to the president, Congress and military brass that the United States of America cannot instill the principles of democracy into Middle Eastern cultures.

Nation building is too difficult, too long a process, too expensive in blood and treasury, and impossible unless the overwhelming majority of the populace want the change. Apparently, this is not the case and they are content with living as they have since Adam and Eve.

We have sufficient oil reserves in this hemisphere to supply our needs out into the future without sending our dollars to the Taliban, Hamas and the rest of the terrorist nations and organizations in the Middle East.

We need to get busy and create jobs over here — drill baby, drill — and develop innovative technologies to conserve energy.

The only way out of the debt predicament we are now in partially from fighting Middle East wars is by growth and innovation. Otherwise, we too will become subservient to those we owe.