A good friend wrote in a Letter to the Editor:

Today I read in your paper about the perils of trying to rebuild Fallujah, a city our forces have seriously damaged in the attack over the past weeks. The article shows that it is unclear whether we can succeed in rebuilding the infrastructure of the city, for a variety of reasons, including lack of cooperation by its displaced residents. Furthermore, to do so will cost US taxpayers untold millions, if similar attempts to rebuild in Iraq are any guide. Rebuilding Fallujah is, of course, just one in a long and growing list of rebuilding projects in that unfortunate nation. Turning the page, I read that the National Science Foundation budget was cut this week by over one hundred million dollars, as Congress struggles to manage an impossible debt crisis. Today’s news leads me to marvel once more at our hubris as a nation, as we undertake to smash another country into submission to our values, while our own house is not in order. How anyone can believe that this war enhances our progress and security is a mystery to me.