What to do About Iraq

The release of the highlights of the National Intelligence Report confirms that the invasion of Iraq has made the world less safe. It is bad news for the President and his supporters because it contradicts the "stay the course" message we have been hearing for the last three years. Staying the course is only going to make the world even more dangerous.

But what to do about Iraq? David Ignatius suggests today in his column that too few Democrats are thinking about this. Instead, they are in "gotcha" mode with the report's findings and are ducking the hard issue of what to do to make things better.

I don't think anyone honestly knows what to do. It seems likely that if we were to pull out immediately there would be all-out civil war. It also seems likely that if we stay in the current mode we will get there eventually anyway and continue all the while to fan the flames of Muslim rage against us. It appears to me from what I read of military readiness that the only way we could increase troop strength enough to possibly make a difference on the ground is by instituting a draft. And that ain't gonna happen unless we are actually attacked. So there are no good options, which is why so many are being mum about solutions.

But what is abundantly clear at this moment is that the group in power now that has made one disastrous decision after another to get us in this mess needs to go. Because there is not a whiff of evidence that they have a clue how to make things better. In fact, it seems likely that given the chance they will soon have us in another war.

So Dems do need to be thinking about what to do to get us out of this mess, but right now the most important thing we can all do is make sure we get a change in leadership, first in Congress, and then in the White House.