While Mr. Bush scorns deadlines, he kept promising breakthroughs — after elections, after a constitution, after sending in thousands more troops. But those milestones came and went without any progress toward a stable, democratic Iraq or a path for withdrawal. It is frighteningly clear that Mr. Bush’s plan is to stay the course as long as he is president and dump the mess on his successor. Whatever his cause was, it is lost.
The political leaders Washington has backed are incapable of putting national interests ahead of sectarian score settling. The security forces Washington has trained behave more like partisan militias. Additional military forces poured into the Baghdad region have failed to change anything.
There's only one conclusion to be drawn from the Iraq fiasco and the Times notes most of reached it a long time ago:
Continuing to sacrifice the lives and limbs of American soldiers is wrong. The war is sapping the strength of the nation’s alliances and its military forces. It is a dangerous diversion from the life-and-death struggle against terrorists. It is an increasing burden on American taxpayers, and it is a betrayal of a world that needs the wise application of American power and principles.
The continuing death toll is unacceptable. By moving into Iraq, Bush blew the chance to affect al Qaeda where they are strongest -- in Afghanistan. The Times puts the blame exactly where it is most deserved: on Bush and Cheney.
President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have used demagoguery and fear to quell Americans’ demands for an end to this war. They say withdrawing will create bloodshed and chaos and encourage terrorists. Actually, all of that has already happened — the result of this unnecessary invasion and the incompetent management of this war.
So what do we do now?
This country faces a choice. We can go on allowing Mr. Bush to drag out this war without end or purpose. Or we can insist that American troops are withdrawn as quickly and safely as we can manage — with as much effort as possible to stop the chaos from spreading.
That means that we have to step up the pressure on our Democratic lawmakers. They've been pussy-footing on Iraq for too long now. It's been 8 months since the election and we're no closer to getting our troops home.
We elected them in large part due to our opposition to the Iraq War. They haven't fulfilled our expectations. Let them know.
Our leaders in Congress need to set a deadline for an exit from Iraq now and not just make speeches that the War was unjustified. If a 2008 contender expects our support, he or she needs to endorse a date certain now.
As Big Tent Democrat wrote a few hours ago, Iraq: The Time is Now.
