What We've Done To Iraq

The McClatchy News Service has just published an excellent article on the mess the Bush administration made in Iraq (and the Obama administration continues to make). It was written by journalist Leila Fadel, who spent three years reporting from Iraq. Here is some of what she has to say:

"The reality in this capital of gray and brown, war and poverty always prevailed, however. On my last day in Iraq, as on my first day in Iraq, I didn't see what the United States and its allies had accomplished.

I couldn't see much evidence of the billions of American taxpayers' dollars that have gone to rebuild a nation ravaged for more than three decades by war, sanctions and more war.

I couldn't understand what thousands of American soldiers had died for and why hundreds of thousands of Iraqis had been killed. I didn't see a budding democracy in an Iraqi government that was more like Saddam Hussein's every day. I didn't see a land long divided by sect, ethnicity, tribe and class beginning to grow into a united nation."

I urge you to click on the link above and read the entire article. It is one of the best articles I have read on what has been accomplished (or failed to be accomplished) in Iraq. Go read it, and then come back and explain to me why American soldiers should be left in Iraq for another two and a half years (until the end of 2011).

Although the United States created this mess, we cannot fix it. All we can do is prolong the agony. It is time to admit our failure (or declare victory if you prefer) and bring all of our troops home -- immediately.