Stop the occupation

AlterNet has a great editorial focusing on how to get out of the Iraq quagmire.

There are two vital approaches we must take to the 35 percent of the American public who still thinks Iraqis will eventually shower us with flowers and kisses. The first has been laid out in dramatic fashion by Democratic Rep. John Murtha, whose military credentials are impeccable. Murtha often leads quoting the poll that "72 percent of the American troops serving in Iraq think the U.S. should exit the country within a year." The unavoidable conclusion from this is that to support the troops is to support a pull-out from Iraq. Murtha has had the courage to challenge the war's prosecutors in the White House and Congress. "To all the Republicans who sit in their air-conditioned offices and talk of the courage it takes for them to keep young kids in harm's way -- I say enough," Murtha recently wrote in a fundraising letter on behalf of Democrats.

The second approach is to spread the message about the colossal price tag of this war. Early on, Bush's people gave absurdly low numbers of the cost of the war -- one estimate was in the single-digit billions. Some administration officials who had the temerity to suggest numbers in the hundreds of billions, which in retrospect were still absurdly low, were shown the door.

As usual this piece is up to AlterNet's high standards and should be read and talked about by everyone.