Our Opinions
Quit digging

We've heard it said, "The fastest way to get out of a hole is to quit digging." The remark was attributed to Warren Buffett in regards to business ventures.

It could also apply to the United State's involvement in a war in Iraq.

To date, in four years the United States has lost over 3,500 soldiers in Iraq with over 25,000 wounded or otherwise injured. We've spent over $500 billion on the war and continue to pour money into Iraq at the rate of $2 billion a week.

And we are no closer to victory than we were four years ago. Iraq is no closer to being a stable government than it was four years ago.

President Bush refuses to see that we are hopelessly bogged down in a conflict we cannot win in Iraq. He may be sincere in wanting to stay the course in Iraq and develop a democratic government there. Or he may be stubborn and bullheaded, refusing to retreat for fear it would be an acknowledgement of error on his part in taking us to war there in the first place.

Whatever his reasons, we persist in fighting a war that we cannot win not because of military issues but because of political ones. Iraq is so disjointed with so many fractions at odds with one another that it will never be stablized until the political issues are settled. And it is debatable that those issues, thousands of years old, can be settled.

The recent surge in U.S. troop strength has done nothing to help the problem. Indeed, we may be suffering more troops being killed or injured now than a few months ago.

The Democrats took control of Congress last year partly in part because of people's displeasure with the war. But for all their chest-thumping, the Democrats have done nothing of consequence to get us out of Iraq. Democrats must step up to the plate and live up to what people expect of them when they put them in power last year.

We do commend the growing number of Republicans who are more and more realizing the hoplessness of the situation in Iraq. Sen. Richard Lugar, a longtime supporter of President Bush and the war effort, now says it is time to get out of Iraq. His candor is to be saluted.

It is past time to stop digging a deeper hole in Iraq. We need to start looking at ways to end our involvement there.

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