'Getting out of Iraq' is a lot more than just leaving Iraq

A friend of mine, Joe Costello, who has worked on Ted Kennedy, Jesse Jackson, Jerry Brown and Howard Dean's campaign sends me this -- a mock-up speech of what he thinks a political candidate should say about Iraq and the American empire:

We've reached an epic point in American history. We must leave Iraq. We must leave immediately. The games in Washington DC that too cheaply value the lives of both Americans and Iraqis must end. The people of Iraq must be given the sovereignty to decide their own destiny and work with their neighbors to create stability. But, I'm here to talk about what it means for Americans to immediately end this ill begotten war.

After 4 years of blood and trillions of dollars of waste, we still seem incapable of an honest discussion about the war. An honest discussion begins by admitting this has not simply been the mistake of one administration, of one Congress, or of one party -- Iraq is the culmination of decades of bipartisan policy. If we are going to be honest, we have to now admit much of this policy has been a failure of both America's role in the Middle East and our role in the world.