The Bush Failure Continues

Years have passed and thousands are wounded and dead and the best ideas from the Bush White House regarding Iraq is to keep on the same course? It all seems more than a bit mad.

The U.S. invasion of Iraq was made based on flat out lies, and there were little if any plans on what to do in that country past 30 or 60 days. Billions pour into the effort, billions are wasted.

After hearing just what was expected from Gen. Petraeus, even staunch GOP supporters like Senator Elizabeth Dole said:

"The difficulty of the current American and Iraqi situation is rooted in large part in the Bush administration's substantial failure to understand the full implications of our military invasion and the litany of mistakes made at the outset of the war."

Time is ripe for a reality check and for fresher, more honest minds to step forward. This war was botched from the get-go, so why trust these same folk to frame the debate?

"What if all that Bush has left us to choose from is different degrees of dishonor?

We can't leave, because the civil war will escalate, terrorists will be emboldened, and Iraq will break into hostile fiefdoms. We can't stay, because the U.S. occupation is inciting violence, discouraging political accommodation, draining our treasury, straining our armed forces, and costing the lives of American soldiers. Yet those are the only two options, and there is little reason to think they will look any better in one year or five or 10."

Also worth considering in the current debate:

"What progress have we made that will be sustained after we leave? If all we've done is tamp down the violence in some places by putting a lot of troops there, then once we leave, all that progress will be reversed. Only if there's some reason to think that the progress we've made will outlast our presence have we achieved anything. Lasting progress depends on political reconciliation, and Ambassador Crocker had precious little to offer."