We now own Iraq because we chose, in our Wild West fashion, to buy it.  We bought it on the installment plan at roughly $100B a year, or $300 for every man, woman and child.  If you are a family of four, your contribution to the war is $1,200 a year.  Are you getting your money's worth?

We now are engaged in semantics of "How do we get out?"  High on the list of rationalizations is the failure of the Iraqi government to act in a "responsible manner." 

We don't get out!

The reality is that, for better or for worse, we are there. We have de-stabilized the region and strengthened the hand of Iran by our belief that Democracy solves all problems. The problem that Democracy has created, however, is to remove the Sunni balance, however evil it may have been, and institute a Shiia neighbor friendly to Iran.

The blame shift to the Iraqi government is what we in Maine call a "red herring."  The Iraqi government is a US puppet government. Whatever it is, we created it, just as we created the Taliban and later destroyed it, only to have it rise stronger than ever from our virtual pullout in Afghanistan. 

We cannot now be heard to justify a pull-out from Iraq on the grounds of the inadequacy of its government.  Trying to look like the guys with the white hats is not going to stand the test of history. 

We are not the guys with the white hats.  We are a nation presided over by people with limited vision, a limited sense of history and lacking the courage of their convictions.  We are reactive and often without purpose other than a smug satisfaction with our successes.

One of the most piercing questions asked of Gen. Petraeus at the recent hearings was by Sen. Byrd:  "General, was there any relationship between 9/11 and Iraq?"  Answer:  "None that I know of, Senator."

Iraq was simply the reaction to 9/11 by a nation seeking revenge for being caught off guard -- a curious act for a "Christian" nation. Saddam Hussein was a convenient target because he was a brutal thug and highly visible.  We broke off our mission against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, moved the theatre of war to Iraq and thereby invited Al Qaeda to the party.

The blood that flowed began with more than 100,000 Iraqi civilians, many of whom undoubtedly were pregnant women who were granted no "choice." Then it was the blood of thousands of American troops -- dead and wounded.

In the resultant vacuum of leadership in Washington, we have created a haven for Al Qaeda that they did not enjoy from the mountains of Pakistan and Afghanistan.  Al Qaeda now has the prospect of having its own nation.  All they have to do is to continue to await the fomenting of US public opinion through the spectacle of hapless politicians twisting in the wind.

Maine Senators Snowe and Collins were front and center in support of this triumph of pride over policy.  Rep. Tom Allen, a US Senate candidate, voted against the invasion and then in favor on the next four Iraq budget votes in support for the troops, one guesses.

Very simply, Iraq had no connection to Al Qaeda; now it does. By our shortsighted actions, we have strengthened the hand of terrorism not only in the region but in the world.  The profound lack of leadership on both sides of the aisle will haunt this nation for decades to come.    

Three answers emerge that will likely not be put on the table by our current government.  1) Push Israel into a resolution of the Palestinian homeland question and gradually shift our presence from Iraq to Israel/Palestine, the fourth largest nuclear power in the world.  2) Get bin Laden, the living symbol of American impotency.  3) Prepare our nation, through a comprehensive energy policy, to go cold-turkey on Middle East oil, now representing only about 13% of our consumption.

The reactive policies of our government have consigned us to a military presence in the region for decades to come. 

He (bin Laden) "who can run but can't hide" has run, has hidden and has expanded his reach to Iraq, thanks to American hegemony and failure of a comprehensive Middle East policy.  Leadership is not only about crisis management; it is about vision. 

"Where the vision fails, the people perish."