America's shame

The Bush war in Iraq is clearly a disaster for America.

We have fathered torture and bloodshed and chaos in that country. We have set the foundation for theocracy and sectarian warfare, and ultimately for the division of the country. We have inspired tens of thousands of Iraqis to become jihadists and have inspired a savage insurgency.

We have "liberated" Iraq from Saddam only to turn the country over to even more dangerous enemies.

We have demonstrated profound disrespect for Islam, the religion of 1.3 billion people. We have tormented prisoners with sinful and humiliating crudity. We have defiled mosques and the Koran. Our war has killed thousands of Iraqis, but we cannot be bothered to count them, or care.

We have spent hundreds of billions of dollars -- and will spend many more. The overstretched military cannot be replenished by volunteers who have seen that Bush has wasted the lives of so many, and would waste theirs too.

Now we hold on in Iraq to fight people who would never have taken up arms against us had we not invaded their homes, arrested their sons and daughters, imprisoned them, raped them, killed them.

Now we hold on to make Iraq safe for an Iranian-controlled theocracy.

Now we hold on to save Bush having to admit he was wrong to invade Iraq, that he was wrong to lie to us, that he was incompetent as well as dishonest and bellicose.

Now we hold on because we cannot admit to ourselves that almost 70% of Americans supported this war at the outset -- and that all of us must bear the shame of an unjust war -- unjustly conceived and unjustly executed.

Now we hold on because it is easier to spend a few more lives every day than to face the fact that this war is a tragic mistake, a hopeless quagmire, and a meaningless exercise in brutality.

We all should be ashamed. It is time to stop the war.

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