Bring Them Home

How much longer well we continue to sacrifice our young men and women in Iraq? The October death toll for American military personnel in Iraq was 105, the highest since January of 2005, bringing the war's total to over 2,800. And that figure doesn't include the thousands who have been wounded, many of whom return comatose, severely brain damaged, or with missing limbs. For those individuals and their families, there is only a lifetime of pain and suffering still ahead.

And why? Iraq was not a threat. Our no-fly zones over northern and southern Iraq had Saddam contained. And under intense U.S. pressure U.N. inspection teams looking for WMD's had free reign to move around throughout Iraq. They were doing their job until we told them to get out of the country mere days before we launched the invasion. Nor did Saddam have any ties to Al Qaida, and there were no Iraqis among the hijackers. Indeed, there weren't even any terrorists there until we showed up.

It's time to face facts and end this folly. Iraq is lost.

It was lost after the first 100 days of the occupation when we suddenly realized we had no plan. There was no plan for restoring order, securing the borders, or getting the electricity turned back on.

The administration has been telling us for the last three years that we're about to turn the corner. First it was the deaths of Saddam's sons and the capture of Saddam. After that it was always "things will improve after" the return of power to the Iraqis, or parliamentary elections, or the referendum on the new constitution, or the new Prime Minister. Most recently the death of terror leader Zarqawi was supposed to take the wind out of the insurgency. Instead violence has spiked since June, and continues to accelerate. Now we're being told that the insurgents have picked up their efforts because they know the United States is having elections and they want to embarrass the Bush administration.

It's always something, isn't it?

We currently have 140,000 American soldiers in Iraq. There have been well over 100,000 troops there since March of 2003. If after three and a half years we still haven't gotten the situation under control, we NEVER will. Indeed, it only continues to get worse. There is nothing we can do at this point to change that. Our young men and women will only continue to spill their blood and sacrifice their lives in a meaningless conflict built on a web of lies.

During the 2004 presidential campaign John Kerry asked, "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?" It won't be easy, but that time is upon us.