Sen. John Cornyn, meet Patrick Almand.

You supported sending him to Iraq on false pretenses. Now you want his comrades to stay on similar grounds.

He’s seen war. He’s seen the ruts it is leaving in the streets of Iraq despite valiant efforts to mitigate the damage war has wrought.

Almand is one of several Texas Iraq veterans, members of VoteVets.org, who last week rose to denounce comments by Roger Williams, who leads the GOP’s coordinated campaign in Texas, on why the state will support Cornyn for re-election.

“The Democrats want to retreat from the terrorists,” said Williams in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

That’s a fascinating statement related to Cornyn’s race, if you know a smidgen of context.

Cornyn’s opponent in November, Democrat Rick Noriega, calls for the withdrawal of American forces from Iraq.

“Retreat from the terrorists”?

Well, after 9/11, Noriega, a state lawmaker from Houston, did just the opposite of retreating. He went to war as a National Guardsman. He commanded a unit in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile Cornyn, whose hands have never been sullied by combat, helped fan the homefires of fear that led our nation elsewhere: into Iraq. That’s where Almand ended up.

A native of Waxahachie and a graduate of Texas A&M, Almand joined the Army reserves not long after 9/11. After being stationed in Europe, he served most of a year in Tikrit, on the northern tip of Iraq’s Sunni triangle.

He saw it all — comrades killed, road-side explosions, enemies exchanging small-arms fire.

Now he’s back home. Though still in the reserves, when he takes off his uniform he speaks his mind.

He calls for a phased withdrawal of troops from Iraq and redeployment to “focus our resources to where the war on terrorism is really going on” in Afghanistan.

President Bush and Congress, he said, “got us into a false war” in Iraq.

Interestingly, the day after Almand and I spoke on the phone, a Pentagon report once again refuted any operational connections between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida.

We know, of course, that in the power vacuum caused by the fall of Saddam and with the lure of jihad, al-Qaida in Iraq mutated. But Almand said in contrast to warring factions and home-grown insurgents, al-Qaida’s role is overstated by barkers for U.S. policy whom construct the veneer of the “war on terror.” Thus John McCain’s stated imperative to “fight them over there rather than here.”

In our interview, I told Almand I didn’t intend to present his opinion as representative of anyone but him, since many of his fellow soldiers support the war effort. Everyone should tire of presumptions that all military people think alike.

He said, “If you get an honest opinion from people having been on the ground in Iraq with either the Army or Marine Corps, people who are under no duress (orders to speak only when spoken too), the vast majority will tell you they do not support our occupation.”

What does Almand think the United States should do? He said it should shift out of its military role in Iraq and begin an urgent diplomatic role. It should redeploy troops out. It should call on the international community to assist Iraq. Redeploying would force the country, and its military, to find its own footing and defend against internal threats.

Almand points out that in areas where the British have pulled out and ceded security to Iraqis, the people are doing what people do when they feel in control of their nation.

As for the conflict in which he found himself, “If you’re going to go there and die or encounter life-changing experiences, it can’t be based on falsehoods. You can’t waste a soldier’s life based on lies.”

Unlike those for whom war is the answer, Almand understands what war can and cannot do. It can crush foes. It cannot make friends or build nations. That is up to nations.

Trying to finesse democracy with war “is like trying to drive a nail into a wall with a bulldozer,” said Almand.

Spoken like someone who’s been there.