2007 Most Deadly Year Of Iraq War For U.S.

The Republicans and the White House would like for us to believe that we're turning the corner in Iraq, and things are going to get better there now. After all, the deaths of United States soldiers went down last month to only 38 (which is still 38 deaths too many when you consider that nothing has been accomplished).

So far, there have been 3,857 U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq (not counting the soldiers that died after being evacuated). The sad part is that Iraq is no closer to a stable government than they were last year or the year before. Their own security forces are still a joke, and there's no way they could maintain the peace if the U.S. was to pull out. Hell, they can't even maintain the peace while we are there.

While Bush wants to pretend things are getting better, the truth is that 2007 has been the most deadly year of the war for U.S. troops. So far this year, 854 of our soldiers have been killed. Until now, the bloodiest year of the war for the United States was 2004 when 849 deaths were recorded. Sadly, there are still seven weeks left in 2007.

Isn't it time to withdraw all of our troops and let the Iraqis determine their own future? They don't want us there (except for the members of the puppet government we installed), and the American people don't want our troops to remain there.

No matter how much Bush would like to, we cannot force a settlement of the civil war, or a government on Iraq. This is something they must accomplish for themselves. Some say there will be bloodshed if we leave and that is probably true. But our staying is only costing lives while delaying the inevitable solution.

Hopefully, the Republicans will be swept from the White House in the next election, but that is a full year from now. If we must wait for that, there will be another 800-900 dead American soldiers. That is unacceptable.

It is time for Democrats to step up and do what they were elected to do -- stop the war. They have the power to defund the war and force Bush to bring our troops home. All they need now is the political courage to do it.