"We need to be aware of the possible outcome of our outcries that could backfire on us directly," said Anita Blount, whose husband Major General Buford Blount commands the US 3rd Infantry Division in Iraq.

Many spouses of 3rd ID soldiers deployed in Iraq have criticized a recent decision to postpone indefinitely the division's return.

"When the Iraqis see media coverage of disgruntled Americans, publicly campaigning for the return of our soldiers from Iraq, they are encouraged and believe their strategy is working," Anita Blount said in an open letter to spouses of deployed soldiers published this week.

"They believe that their continued attacks on American soliders are having the desired effect and are diminishing the resolve of the American people to complete the task in Iraq," she said.

"We are committed to being in Iraq for the long haul," she said, adding the mission would not be completed until a democratic government is established in Iraq.

Leaving now would further fuel hatred of the US in the region at a time when "more Arab people hate America today than ever before," she said in the letter printed in The Frontline, the 3rd ID's newspaper.

WAR.WIRE