We'll Call it a Draw

When one sifts through Senator Chuck Hagel’s Op-Ed piece to the Washington Post (clearly written with an eye toward ‘08) entitled “Leaving Iraq, Honorably,” one will indeed find a call for withdrawal as well as some criticism against (presumably) the Bush Administration. Most of what remains, however, is nothing more an attempt to rewrite a palatable beginning and ending to this nightmare without regard to historical accuracy.

For instance, Hagel calls the reasons for going to war with Iraq “honorable,” and “part of the ongoing struggle against instability, brutality, intolerance, extremism, and terrorism.” He writes, and this may be the most striking example of self delusion in the editorial, “The United States can still extricate itself from an impending disaster in Iraq.”

Honorable intentions? Impending disaster?

Newsflash, Senator: We lost. It is too late to save our honor in regards to our actions in Iraq. It is too late to save the 600,000 plus dead Iraqis and nearly 3000 dead Americans. The best we can possibly hope for is to salvage some of our credibility as a nation through a speedy withdrawal, a sincere apology to the world, and to bring charges against those responsible for this insane war in the first place.