The awful truth about Iraq

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"As the young Kerry was surely loath to apply the word 'mistake' to a conflict that had killed and maimed some of his friends, an American leader must be loath to make such an admission to the families of more than 500 dead US soldiers. Yet what they died for was clearly not the noble cause as defined by Colin Powell a year ago, nor the 'freedom' of which President Bush blithely speaks. Some American leader, in profound repentance, must acknowledge the awful truth to those families: 'Your sons and daughters died for a mistake.'

Only such truth-telling at home will make possible what must be done immediately in Iraq. If our getting into the unnecessary war was wrong, our carrying it on is wrong. The US military presence in Iraq, no matter how intended, has itself become the affront around which opposition fighters are organizing themselves. GIs in their Humvees, US convoys bristling with rifles, well-armed coalition check-points, heavily fortified compounds flying the American flag -- all of this fuels resentment among an ever broader population, including Saddam's enemies. It justifies the growing number of jihadis whose readiness to kill through suicide has become the real proliferation problem.

The occupation is its source and must end. 'The day I take office as president of the United States,' a true American leader would declare, 'I will order the immediate withdrawal of the entire American combat force in Iraq.'"