'Killed By Wishful Thinking'

TERROR RULES STREETS AS AMERICAN SOLDIERS DIE FOR A LIE: "It's one thing to ask our soldiers and Marines to die for our national security, but sending them off to die for platitudes is unforgivable.

The government in Baghdad is on the verge of failure. There is no civil war - civil war would be easier to deal with. What we see in the streets is the rule of the gunmen.

We gave them Iraq. Instead of imposing the rule of law, we empowered the lawless.

Responsibility begins, of course, with the Iraqis, who have chosen old hatreds over new possibilities. The next layer of guilt encompasses the Bush administration, which lacked the guts to finish what it started. But the get-Bush-at-any-cost Americans who encouraged our enemies will have the blood of countless innocent Iraqis on their hands.

The left may get its wish: Iraq may fail. Well, congratulations. The men to whom you yearn to give Iraq will make Pol Pot look like Mr. Rogers.

The only blameless participants are our troops. Each new tombstone at Arlington National Cemetery should read: 'Killed By Wishful Thinking.'"

As with Ken Burns' 'Confederate States of America,' the Republican's plan for Iraq "died of a theory."