In latest news, General John Abizaid told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Iraq may well be headed to civil war. To take a long view, in 2002 we invaded a relatively stable, poor country. Our aim was, initially, to prevent them from using their weapons of mass destruction. Now, our leaders say the goal was to remove Saddam from power. Today Saddam is safely in our hands, but over 50,000 Iraqi lives have been lost, as well as 2000 plus American soldiers. Moreover, the fact that we are in Iraq, and the occasional abuse/murder scandal, are excellent recruiting tools for Islamic extremists. The price of oil has skyrocketed, I feel less safe than at the beginning of the war, and now that Iran and North Korea have nuclear weapons, we are powerless because our troops are stuck in Iraq. Removing US troops may save US lives, but is unforgivable. We cannot invade a peaceful country and then pack up and leave it to civil war. And correct me if I'm wrong, but I haven't heard any solutions or strategies being proposed or implemented with any degree of success. This much is clear: whoever becomes elected in 2008 will have a gigantic mess on their hands. I don't think this administration's trying too hard to fix things before they leave.

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