We did have "ten years of loss and sacrifice all for nothing" in the Vietnam War and there are still some nitwits around who would have gone for twenty.

The Iraq war is a war that was initiated on false pretenses. It should never have been initiated. But it was and now we all share some responsibility for figuring out how to withdraw. We don't have the option of militarily dominating Iraq for another five years. The Bush Administration which began this discretionary war should bear full responsibility for all of its adverse impacts on the Iraqi people, our status in the Middle East, and our status as an international symbol of truth and justice. All were squandered for short turn gains and long term losses.

And 4000 US soldier families bear the costs, as do more than 20,000 US wounded soldier families, and ten times as many Iraqi families. The math adds up but doesn't make any impression on the Bush-Cheney Administration.

Charley Noble