Nowhere are the changing views of the American people more starkly illustrated than in the debate over America's war in Iraq among the residents of Florida's Emerald Coast. Just a few years ago, citizens in this proudly pro-military, enthusiastically pro-Republican corner of Florida were fully behind the war. Letter writers denounced critics of the war as unpatriotic scoundrels who wouldn't support U.S. troops.

That was then. Now, according to results of a Northwest Florida Daily News online poll, 76 percent of readers think the Iraq war cost more than it was worth.

Perhaps that isn't surprising. The costs were high.

The war has dragged on longer than eight years. More than 4,400 Americans have given their lives, and more than 33,000 have been wounded. The cost to U.S. taxpayers approaches $1 trillion, according to President Obama, although a recent Brown University study put the actual price tag at $4 trillion.

Soon it will be over. The president has announced a pullout that will bring U.S. troops home for the holidays.

Ending the Iraq war no doubt will be a plank in Obama's re-election bid. But it's not entirely his doing. The Status of Forces Agreement made with Iraq was signed by his predecessor, George W. Bush, in November 2008.

There still could be a last-minute deal with the Iraqi government for some U.S. troops to remain, said Ivan Eland, director of the Center for Peace and Liberty at the Independent Institute. Moreover, he told Freedom Communications, about 160 troops and 5,000 security contractors will stay to guard the sprawling U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

However, he believes that all U.S. troops will leave because the Iraqi people are demanding it.

Left behind will be a vast infrastructure of roads, bases and other facilities paid for by U.S. taxpayers. "The Bush administration wanted to put bases in the region but didn't count on the guerrilla and civil wars that started," Eland explained. These and other war costs were paid for with borrowed money that has helped drive the U.S. debt to nearly $15 trillion.

And Iraq may yet plunge into violence once U.S. troops leave, despite America's best efforts to establish civil government there.

What a mess. It's no wonder three-quarters of our readers don't think Iraq has been worth the blood and treasure we've poured into it.

REPRINTED FROM THE NORTHWEST FLORIDA DAILY NEWS