Actually Chuck, It Is Too Late

This is a great editorial by Chuck Hagel, the Republican Senator from Nebraska. He points out many of the problems with our policy in Iraq: the dishonest funding, poor planning, unrealistic expectations. The only problem is toward the end, "It is not too late. The United States can still extricate itself honorably from an impending disaster in Iraq."

It is in fact way too late. It is not too late to cut our losses, but it is way past too late to extricate ourselves honorably from Iraq. The Senator has a big responsibility in this regard, being a member of the party that controlled congress for the last six years and failed to provide oversight as the administration pursued its disastrous policies.

Non-the-less, it's good to see attempts at honesty and correction from Senators of either party. Admitting things like- "Our effort in Afghanistan continues to deteriorate, partly because we took our focus off the real terrorist threat, which was there, and not in Iraq," is an important step for our future, though it doesn't by any means eradicate the mistakes of the recent past.

- Stephen Elliott