Seattle Post-Intelligencer: We're all fed up

August 5, 2007
Seattle Post-Intelligencer: We're all fed up

In a gesture that says more to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and the Bush administration that a million suicide bomb attacks could, the Sunni bloc quit the Iraqi Cabinet on Wednesday. That would be the same day that about 70 people died and 60 were injured in three attacks around Baghdad. Think about it -- the Sunnis walked away from the process, taking away with them any hope of quelling sectarian violence any time in the near future, no matter how many troops we send over. That's how fed up they are.

The message is loud and clear: Take your benchmarks and ... well you know the rest.

Time: How to Leave Iraq

July 19, 2007
Time: How to Leave Iraq

As the White House and Congress bicker over timetables and benchmarks, intelligence estimates and report cards, the real question is the one neither camp is facing very well: How do we leave in a way that maximizes the good that we can still achieve and minimizes the damage that will inevitably occur? The best strategic minds in both parties have argued for months that the answer is essentially to muddle our way out, cut our losses carefully and try to salvage what we can from a mission gone bad. Even under the rosiest scenarios, the U.S. will suffer a humbling blow to its prestige as it leaves Iraq and the Sunni-Shi'ite civil war intensifies. But with the debacle would come some dividends. Done judiciously, a pullback from the war would start restoring America's ability to advance its interests and deter aggression beyond Iraq.

Boston Globe: Lesser evils and an exit strategy

July 10, 2007
Boston Globe: Lesser evils and an exit strategy

It is pointless for Bush to go on complaining that the commanding general in Iraq, David Petraeus, needs more time to make his clear-and-hold operations in Baghdad work, or that the electoral anxieties of congressional incumbents should not determine US policy in Iraq. A virtue of the democratic system Bush has sought to export to the Middle East is that, at regular intervals, it allows the people to call their representatives to account.

Kansas Eagle: Time for a new phase in Iraq

July 10, 2007
Kansas Eagle: Time for a new phase in Iraq

Bush argued in January that the surge would give the Iraqi government breathing space to accomplish key goals, such as holding provisional elections and agreeing on power-sharing arrangements. But the Iraqi leaders have failed to meet any of those benchmarks -- nor do they seem willing to do the hard work and compromise needed to achieve them.

American leaders must now focus on how to draw down U.S. troops and prepare for an eventual withdrawal, as outlined last year by the Iraq Study Group.

Sacramento Bee: There are no options for a graceful exit

July 15, 2007
Sacramento Bee: There are no options for a graceful exit

In these circumstances, as James Fearon of Stanford University wrote in the March/April edition of Foreign Affairs, "U.S. military intervention in Iraq is thus unlikely to produce a government that can survive by itself whether the troops stay 10 more months are 10 more years."

There are no options for a graceful exit. The choice is among unpalatable alternatives. Republicans and Democrats in Congress increasingly understand this. The problem is that President Bush still doesn't, and he is the one who must do the planning for a safe, orderly disengagement.

Detroit Free Press: Time to Pull Out

July 13, 2007
Detroit Free Press: Time to Pull Out

"There is no near-term answer," Daniel Goure, vice president of the Lexington Institute, a military policy research group, told the Associated Press. "Does that mean that you can't win this thing? This is winnable -- in about 10 years. But you could lose it ... in about an hour and a half."

It is time to start getting America out of Iraq, to stop debating whether the glass is half empty or half full, and start to drain it.

Philadelphia Inquirer: Getting Out of Iraq

July 15, 2007
Philadelphia Inquirer: Getting Out of Iraq

President Bush must be living in a time warp, judging by his remarks last week. It's a lovely thought on which he dwells: Decency and democracy should triumph over terrorism and tyrants. Should, but may not if you make too many mistakes.

And his team has made plenty in Iraq - from too few boots on the ground, to the lack of post-war planning, to dismissing the importance of understanding Iraqi people and cultures.

He cannot endlessly leave American soldiers to die fighting for impossible objectives. If he cannot admit that, Congress must force him to face reality.

Seattle Times: Leave Iraq

July 17, 2007
Seattle Times: Leave Iraq

There is no good time to walk away from a war that has spurred hideous violence and bloodshed in a country the U.S. is supposedly helping. There is no good time.

U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe, Richard Lugar and Pete Domenici, Republicans from Maine, Indiana and New Mexico, respectively, have changed their minds. They don't want to sit idly by while Bush heads down to the ranch for August R&R and Iraq spins further out of control.

The July report on progress in Iraq offers few reasons to wait until September.

Pittsburgh Newspaper Calls for Withdrawal -- Questions Bush's 'Mental Stability'

July 16, 2007
Pittsburgh Newspaper Calls for Withdrawal -- Questions Bush's 'Mental Stability'

NEW YORK The Pittsburgh newspaper owned by conservative billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife yesterday called the Bush administration's plans to stay the course in Iraq a "prescription for American suicide."

The editorial in the Tribune-Review added, "And quite frankly, during last Thursday's news conference, when George Bush started blathering about 'sometimes the decisions you make and the consequences don't enable you to be loved,' we had to question his mental stability."

NY Times: Bring the Troops Home

July 8, 2007
NY Times: Bring the Troops Home

It is time for the United States to leave Iraq, without any more delay than the Pentagon needs to organize an orderly exit.

Like many Americans, we have put off that conclusion, waiting for a sign that President Bush was seriously trying to dig the United States out of the disaster he created by invading Iraq without sufficient cause, in the face of global opposition, and without a plan to stabilize the country afterward.

Continuing to sacrifice the lives and limbs of American soldiers is wrong. The war is sapping the strength of the nation's alliances and its military forces. It is a dangerous diversion from the life-and-death struggle against terrorists. It is an increasing burden on American taxpayers, and it is a betrayal of a world that needs the wise application of American power and principles.