This week began with the New York Times noting that "all of Washington is consumed with debate over the direction of the war in Iraq." The debate -- long overdue -- is a serious blow to the war makers in Washington, but the U.S. war effort will go on for years more unless the antiwar movement gains sufficient momentum to stop it.
A cliche goes that war is too important to be left to the generals. But a more relevant assessment is that peace is too vital to be left to pundits and members of Congress -- people who have overwhelmingly dismissed the option of swiftly withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq.
Last Thursday, a high-profile military booster in Congress suddenly shattered the conventional wisdom that immediate withdrawal is unthinkable. "The American public is way ahead of us," Rep. John Murtha said in a statement concluding with capitalized words that shook the nation's capitalized political elites: "Our military has done everything that has been asked of them, the U.S. cannot accomplish anything further in Iraq militarily. IT IS TIME TO BRING THEM HOME."
Murtha's statement has broken a spell. But the white magic of the USA's militarism remains a massive obstacle to bringing home the U.S. troops who should never have been sent to Iraq in the first place.
There has been no outbreak of conscience in editorial offices or on Capitol Hill...
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