A colossal failure

This war was not a success. It was a colossal failure.

This is important, and we must speak the truth about it.

Of the administration's objectives in pursuing this war — against the will of a majority of its own people, and against the wishes of most of its allies — only one has been achieved. The others remain undone, and in some cases, undo-able.

The Bush administration's objectives were:

1. To eliminate the threat of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
2. To remove Saddam Hussein from power.
3. To hold Saddam accountable for his cruelty to the Iraqi people.
4. To liberate the Iraqi people.
5. To preserve Iraq's infrastructure with the use of so-called "smart bombs."
6. To spread democracy in the Middle East.

If there were weapons of mass destruction threatening us in Iraq, we don't know where they are or who has control of them. The threat, if it existed, has not been removed — on the contrary. With violence between Palestinians and Israelis escalating, the use of any surviving weapons of mass destruction by anti-American interests is now more likely than it was before this war.

There is no way to hold Saddam Hussein accountable for his treatment of the Iraqi people when we don't know where he is.

The Iraqi people have been liberated from the rule of Saddam Hussein. They have not been liberated from poverty, famine, or disorder. They have been liberated from their electric power, their gas supply, their priceless antiquities and cultural heritage. There is no freedom without order, and order has not been restored.

Iraq's infrastructure has been so badly damaged that most government buildings are in tear-down condition. Looters have stolen not only furniture, rugs, and equipment, but doors, hinges, door frames, windows, window frames, and flooring materials.

The United States has done such a poor job of perpetrating this war — "on the cheap" with an insufficient ground force — and then of managing its aftermath, that our credibility and reputation have been materially damaged around the world. The Iraqi people have reason to see democracy as the perpetrator of unwarranted aggression. How is that different from what they have seen in the past?