As I sit here and ponder how it was that the US got embroiled in the Iraq War there are a few points I would like to bring up for discussion.

First of all - I must admit to never serving in any military. But, if I gave an oath to protect my nation - I would honor that oath to the best of my ability and would be forced to trust those in power to not abuse that trust. That means, essentially, that I would trust politicians to only use force as a last resort against a desperate situation - and I would have to trust that the mission they send me on would be one that is justified.

Bush abused that sacred trust when he sent troops to invade and occupy a nation that had nothing to do with September 11 and who posed no imminent threat. The only justification Bush had was that he wanted war - and wanted to be seen as a strong leader. He went against the real intelligence - forged documents and trumped up a threat that was illusion.

So, when we call for the troops to withdraw, we are not cutting the morale of the troops - for Bush himself did that when he sent them on a bogus mission. They know this better than any of us.

When we call Bush to account for his lies and misstatements - we are not cowards who want to cut and run. We are being truthful that the mission was bogus from the outset and no amount of wishful thinking will make it turn out better. It takes far more courage to stand up and admit a horrible mistake was made than to hide behind lies and villify any naysayers.

We must stand up and honor the trust that the military puts in political leaders so that they will not abuse it. We must be strong and brave to hold Bush to account for this illegal and criminal war he forced upon Iraq and the US military. It is a coward who will only nod their head and meekly agree with those who are in control and power. We are not sheep.

I say this stinks because Bush is hiding behind the trust factor of the US military. I say it stinks when the GOP attack any who want to hold Bush accountable for a poorly thought out war and occupation. I say it really stinks when Bush touts fighting terrorism when we are actually seeing civil war erupting in Iraq because of Bush politics.

Although your opinion was once a somewhat lonely one, now you have fast-growing company. But like social embarrassment at the personal level, our collective pride demands an indeterminate period of time in order to salvage a sense of dignity.

The neoconservatives were wrong, and our country was wrong to so naiively follow them. But it will take considerably more time to gracefully heal our wounded pride, and more people must now die and suffer in a vain attempt to divert attention while this slow process plays out. This is an unspoken policy that all political players can apparently agree on- An underhanded policy borne of our darker human traits, whereby less influencial people are being sacrificed for the sake of better superficial appearances of the politically prominent, across the political spectrum, with rare exceptions like Senator Murtha.

The neoconservatives who hatched our recent neoimperialism will contribute to the face-saving delays and half-measures, as will our remaining allies, as will the domestic paleoconservatives, and the democrats, and all the others who invested their own clout in playing along until this point, where the folly of gunpoint "democracy-building" is now fully as plain as day to everyone.

It's sad to think of those who still must suffer and die now, even after the impossible neocon crusade has failed. It's unhappy to contemplate the chaos that will fester and spread all around the corpse of Iraq. There will be a lot of tragic aftermath and blowback to our failure.

What aware citizens need to prepare for now is the real potentiality that a desperate last-ditch attempt at fear-mongering could be initiated by the architects of this disaster. Considering what we know of the character of Cheney, Rove, and others who concieved and drove the entire reckless joyride, we should be ready to loudly oppose any further national recklessness to the point of extreme personal social -even physical- risk.

To the PNAC people placing a US puppet regime in control of Iraq is essential for the next hundred years future of Americans and the world and is more important than getting Bin Laden and the Islamic terrorists. To PNAC China is the greatest threat and control of the Gulf is how to keep China under control.

My problem with Bush is not that he believes the PNAC ideas but that he tries to use false pretext to secretly implement his policy without asking the American people to embrace his policy. Ronald Reagan would have sold the American people on PNAC and then invaded Iraq. Democracy requires that the people be informed aout the true ideas behind decisions as important as invading Iraq. In a democracy, it is the right of the people to make huge mistakes that put the lives of our soldiers in jeopardy. Bush took that right away from the people and gave it to himself when he lied about his reasons for going into Iraq.

How can we have a better future needing anything from Iraq, anyway?

We do not seem to be able to read the handwriting on the wall. If we do not pull out of Iraq we could lost almost every soldier we have over there. Each suicide bomber is able to kill several people at a time. Over there we have far fewer soldiers than they have people who are willing to drive us out. When the Iraqis become willing to risk total annihilation the Alliance troops will all become dead. I think that they more than the US are trying to get the US out with the minimum of casualties.

It takes a brave people to admit that we have simply totally screwed up and it's time to cut our losses. One reason that it totally doesn't make much difference is because either way it will become another Shiite dominated country where there used to be Sunnis.

As I sit here and ponder how it was that the US got embroiled in the Iraq War there are a few points I would like to bring up for discussion.

First of all - I must admit to never serving in any military. .

First of all, the opposition owns you.

When they have trained you to open your position statement with an apology, it is all over, you don't have a chance. All they have to do is push that issue, you were not in the military, and you have already told them you will fold. You will collapse because you know you were not in the military.

Those guys use psychology on people to get their crimes accepted. You have to be educated and aware to deal with them or they will twist you like spaghetti.