Posted on 07/07/2005 11:42:24 AM PDT by paulat
Thursday, July 7, 2005 - Page updated at 12:00 AM
Editorial
Exit without apologies
Saddam Hussein is toppled from power. The fundamental aim of the Iraq war is accomplished. Now is the time to plan to leave and bring American forces home.
As noted in a series of editorials that began on Sunday and ends today, the passage of time only erodes confidence in an enterprise we initially supported. Successive layers of President Bush's rationales for the war were stripped bare. No weapons of mass destruction were found, no prewar terrorist havens or links to Sept. 11, 2001.
The war caused untold suffering in Iraq and it has taken its own toll at home in grieving families, mourning communities and a loss of confidence in our elected leaders.
Our military, a mix of regular and reserve forces, did all that was asked of them. Too often, they were ill-served by failures to adequately equip and prepare them for the war and its aftermath. They were failed by civilian leadership that did not understand Iraq's culture and history, and the complexity of the mission.
The Iraq war lingers on the home front through the Patriot Act, with its disturbing invasions of privacy and intrusions upon civil liberties. American values were further assaulted by military prison scandals and isolation of prisoners outside the law.
U.S. taxpayers await an honest accounting of the war's costs and the financial obligations for postwar reconstruction.
Questions remain, but the U.S. can exit Iraq without apologies.
Saddam sits in jail. Iraqis are free to decide their own future. More than 1,700 American lives were sacrificed to help create that opportunity.
The Iraq war is over. Thank our allies, and bring U.S. troops home.
Copyright © 2005 The Seattle Times Company
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorialsopinion/
This adds to my rage today.
And, under saddam it was all rainbows & unicorns.
Sigh...
And they wonder why I refuse to read the paper.
Imagine that. Tony Blair is standing fast, and these guys want us to abandon him. If we ran today, Blair would be left holding the bag. Gee. What a SELF-SERVING rat-jumping-ship idea! Shameful.
Somehow, I think this is going to be embarassingly overshadowed by events in London today..
Great timing. And leave Iraq to Al Qaeda. That's what happened in Afghanistan after the Soviets left. Don't these people ever learn anything? There's no reason to take them (the Seattle Times) seriously.
I suggest the US withdraw from Seattle...There's no reason to be there.
Nice timing, wimps.
They obviously just woke up or certainly they would have pulled this editorial today of all days....no wait...never mind.
Yeah. I guess they just had bad luck on this timing. Just as Jesus comes like a thief in the night, so can Truth.
Typical liberal response, Create a mess, Declare victory, Run away, let someone else pay the price to pick up the pieces.................
It'll be embarassing - if these guys are capable of embarassment. And it couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys.
This is sooooooooo bogus. The American soldiers in Iraq are the best equipted and best trained in the history of our country. Further, the author says there were NO terrorist havens in Iraq before the war. Actually we found a terrorist training camp in Iraq complete with an old 747 fusilage to use in practicing hijacking techniques. Since we know of no indiginous terror groups from Iraq, just who does the author think was using this terrorist training facility? Never, ever, trust anything a liberal says.
COWARDS!
Why are these people against democracy in the Arab world? That's what they're saying. They're saying that it doesn't matter if we pull out of Iraq, the job half done, and the provisional Iraqi government is overwhelmed by Saddamite insurgents and Islamists. Frankly, the editors or the Seattle Times are dopes.
Bed wetters
These people at the Seattle Daily Worker are absolute traitors.
Enough said.
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