BY MARTIN C. EVANS | martin.evans@newsday.com

Kristofer Goldsmith feels so strongly that the war in Iraq must end that the former Army sergeant from Bellmore went to Washington last week to urge members of Congress to act.

Goldsmith, who told Congress he and other soldiers were pressured to continue serving despite psychological stress disorders, is among area peace activists who say the five-year conflict is harming America, and they are urging their fellow Long Islanders to do more to end it.

"There was a very high rate of divorce in my company and more alcoholism than I have ever seen in my life," said Goldsmith, 22. "A lot of them had stresses with their children when they got back home."

The Long Island Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives, a consortium of church groups and community activists, has urged members to contact their elected officials over the harm they say the war is doing to America's image abroad and to taxpayers at home.

Alliance co-director Megan O'Handley said the Iraq war has cost Island taxpayers alone some $10.8 billion. She said she is frustrated the 2006 Democratic takeover of Congress has not resulted in the war's swift end.

Meghan Dubyak, a spokeswoman for Rep. Steve Israel (D-Huntington), said area Democrats have repeatedly voted against Iraq-war spending bills that have no timetable for ending

Last week, the House passed a provision that would require U.S. troops to be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of 2009. But a spokesman for Rep. Tim Bishop (D-Southampton) said the measure is likely to be turned away when it reaches the Senate, where Republicans have blocked similar measures.

Goldsmith, who has spoken out against the war at local colleges since his discharge in 2007, was one of several Iraq veterans who addressed about a half-dozen members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus in Washington on Thursday. Goldsmith told them he had become disillusioned after seeing the war's destructive effect on Iraqi citizens and fellow troops.

During his year of duty, the Sadr City neighborhood in Baghdad where he was stationed was gripped by near-daily sectarian killings, kidnappings and power outages. Among his unit's principal tasks were identifying roadside bombs and collecting bodies of murder victims.

Goldsmith told members of Congress he suffered such severe depression that he mixed pills with alcohol in an attempt at suicide, which he said led to his discharge and being stripped of his GI Bill education benefits.

"For the good of the souls of the American military, and the millions of Iraqi civilians who also suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, this fight must come to an end," Goldsmith said.