The New York Times editorial , “The Road Home”, in today’s editions:

It is time for the United States to leave Iraq, without any more delay than the Pentagon needs to organize an orderly exit.

It’s a long editorial with arguments about leaving, staying and how to get out of Iraq, not all of which I endorse.  However, it’s a milestone in America’s political path towards ending the war when the NYTimes says it’s time to go.  One thing I do think is important is to consider the consequences of getting out of the war and doing a better job of planning the withdrawal than we did at the beginning of the war of the consequences of victory.  There will be refugees.  There will be attempts to fill the vacuum we leave behind.  We have 150,000 troops and almost 200,000 civilians there along with untold billions of dollars of equipment and they can’t just get on an American Airlines 737 and fly away in a day.  The Bush advocates accuse us of a plan to “cut and run”, but their alternative is “stay and die for no good reason”. 

In the entire history of our country, nothing has been as disasterous as our decision to invade Iraq.  I do not believe George Bush, Condi Rice and the Pentagon have the ability to lead us out.  It’s not just that they don’t want to, it’s that they aren’t capable.  They do not know how.  Even if we gave them a roadmap and a subpoena and let them use both hands, they couldn’t find their own ass, much less a way out of Iraq.  That’s the real problem right now.  Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi cannot legislate our way out because they cannot constitutionally negotiate the delicate details with Jordan, Turkey, Syria, Iran, etc., much less the assistance that will be needed from Europe and Asia.  While I favor impeachment, I do not think that will be helpful in getting out of Iraq in an orderly fashion and may, in fact, be counter-productive on that score.  We need impeachment for internal reasons of protecting our Constitution from this Imperial Presidency of lawless invasions of our rights.  However, it won’t help on the foreign policy front.  Getting ourselves a withdrawal from the Bush presidency is as difficult a task as getting out of Iraq.

I hope we elect Barak Obama as our next president only because I believe that it is only by electing a man with the middle name “Hussein” that we will have the international credibility to extract us from this mess with some semblance of dignity and some restoration of our good will from the international community.  America is presently seen as stupid, racist, fat and infatuated with gun slinging violent cowboys.  His election will refute that in a way that will even be obvious to relatively ignorant and tribal people globally. 

God save us.

blogblah!!!