Protesting the path to war is admirable.

Once members of your tribe are in the fray, it is ineffective to assert that it should not be happening. From the middle of the damn thing, the two paths out -- forward and retreat -- invoke very different futures. I honestly think that the path forward, if done intelligently, offers much more promise for better long-term survival than the path of retreat. I have no patience for the stupid men and women who brought us to this point, but the ground facts are not optional at this point.

It would be far more effective, i think, to develop new and better social mechanisms for healing the rifts left in the wake of the war, support humanitarian solutions that do something effective, and see what can be done to restore the valley of the Tigris to its former glory as a center of prosperity and peace and culture.

A