At a peace conference in Corpus Christi a few weeks ago, one of the presenters asked the attendees to raise their hands if they thought the United States should pull out of Iraq right now. A few raised their hands. A lot of people squirmed.

He was surprised. How many think we should stay? A few raised their hands. A lot of people squirmed.

How many don't know? That was the right question. Hands shot up. No one squirmed.

As I spoke to people, one by one, they explained their ambivalence. They had opposed the war from the start. They knew there were no weapons of mass destruction. They knew there were no ties between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida. They knew Iraq was not responsible for 9-11. They knew it was a war about oil and obtaining a military and economic outpost in the Middle East.

But that was then, and this is now. And now, exactly two years after the invasion of Iraq, the world has become more complicated.

Many people, perhaps unconsciously, quoted Colin Powell's dire warning to President Bush at the start of hostilities: "You break it, you bought it." Some, heartened by what they perceive to be the beginning of democracy there, feel we need to stay to see it through. We may have entered the war for the wrong reason, but perhaps the outcome will be good.

They're all wrong. The United States needs to pull out of Iraq as soon as possible.

The United States is not preserving the peace in Iraq: We are fueling the violence. Far from being a stabilizing influence in Iraq, we are destabilizing the country. Insurgent attacks are fives times more frequent than a year ago.

How could it possibly get worse?

When there's a bull in the china shop, you don't ask the bull to hang around and help with the cleanup. The bull is the problem, not the solution.

The current violence in Iraq is not so much Iraqi against Iraqi, but rather Iraqi against what are seen as American stooges. By latest estimates there are 20,000 insurgents in Iraq — insurgents opposing the U.S. occupation.

Perhaps if we left, there would be civil war: Sunni against Shia, Kurds breaking away to form their own country. Perhaps it would happen next year, or in 10 years. Our presence is not preventing such a possible future fight, just delaying it. These ethnic and religious tensions cannot be resolved by a foreign occupation.

Nor does it make sense for America to hang around to rebuild the infrastructure. American money, yes; American contractors, no. For the Iraqi economy to revive, Iraqi business must grow. Contracts should be awarded to responsible Iraqi contractors, not to politically-connected American companies.

Iraqi companies could handle our tax money at least as responsibly as — oh, let's pick a company at random — Halliburton.

Halliburton, where Vice President Dick Cheney was CEO until his election in 2000, has been the fastest-growing defense contractor. In 2002 it got $483 million in Pentagon contracts. A year later it was sucking down $3.92 billion.

Last week a Defense Department audit disclosed that KBR, a subsidiary of Halliburton, charged the Pentagon $27.5 million to ship $82,100 worth of cooking and heating fuel. Auditors also found $1.8 billion of unsupported costs in a $10.5 billion Army logistics contract awarded to KBR. A year ago it was accused of overcharging the military $6 million on a food service contract. It gave the money back.

If we are using U.S. contractors such as Halliburton because of their superior American business practices and impeccable ethics, we have been sadly mistaken.

This war has cost our country dearly. More than 1,500 U.S. military personnel have been killed. This month the toll of the wounded officially topped 11,000. The war has cost us $207.5 billion: According to the National Priorities Project, San Antonio's share of that is $778.7 million.

We cannot afford this war, a war that is fueling violence and failing in its mission to rebuild Iraq. It's time to come home. All in favor, raise your hands.

Susan Ives can be reached at suives@texas.net.