This morning's WaPo is running an op-ed by 12 former US Army captains, titled The Real Iraq We Knew.
Honestly, though the letter is short, it covers a lot of ground and its difficult to pull one or two grafs that capture the essence. Do go read the whole thing.
After detailing a frontline view if Iraq's broken physical and institutional infrastructures, noting the rampant corruption and graft that plagues all levels of the Iraqi government, illuminating the inherent futility of trying to run a counter insurgency with too few troops, and underscoring the inability of the Iraqi security forces to take over for US forces, the officers get right to the bottom line:
This is Operation Iraqi Freedom and the reality we experienced. This is what we tried to communicate up the chain of command. This is either what did not get passed on to our civilian leadership or what our civilian leaders chose to ignore. While our generals pursue a strategy dependent on peace breaking out, the Iraqis prepare for their war -- and our servicemen and women, and their families, continue to suffer.
There is one way we might be able to succeed in Iraq. To continue an operation of this intensity and duration, we would have to abandon our volunteer military for compulsory service. Short of that, our best option is to leave Iraq immediately. A scaled withdrawal will not prevent a civil war, and it will spend more blood and treasure on a losing proposition.
The captains conclude with single sentence that, if god is just, will ring like a bell across the nation:
America, it has been five years. It's time to make a choice.
Gosh, I can't wait for Limbaugh and his clan of moral hunchbacks to enlighten us about how these guys are all "phony soldiers".
The reality is, though, that the American people long ago made their choice known. We rose up and threw as many of this war's enablers out of power that we could. We've tried in vain to get those still in power to pull the plug on this disaster.
We decided long ago. All that remains to be seen is whether one man's ego and one party's political cowardice will trump our will.