Saddan is Dead: Can We Go Home Now?

Today, Iraqui President and dictator Saddam Hussein was executed by hanging after a conviction for atrocities committed in his name. Before going any further, let me clarify something so willfully obscured by some commentators on the right: Saddam Hussein was a Very Bad Man. He did terrible things and — while I am myself still uncertain of the ethics of state executions — he did receive a trial and was executed according to the laws of his nation. Opposition to this administration’s policies is not equivalent to admiring Hussein.

All of which is prologue to the following: Now that George W. Bush has seen the conclusion of the twisted pyscho-drama that has occupied his presidency, will he now be able to cope, mentally, with the fact that the United States must move expeditiously to withdraw from Iraq?

Supporters of the war — those that can still be found — claim that leaving Iraq now will consign that country to a bitter civil war while tarnishing the reputation of the United Stated and signaling to our friends and allies that we are not dependable. It will be a grim period, they tell us, comparable to the low ebb of US influence following the Viet Nam debacle. And worse — they’re probably right.

Here’s what they leave unsaid: All of that is going to happen anyway. The damage is done. A continued US presence in Iraq serves no purpose but to prolong the suffering and violence; to prevent any sort of national reconciliation from proceeding; to prop up a weak government increasingly uninterested in exercising restraining influence on the sectarian combatants. Meanwhile the US Army and Marines will be pushed well past their breaking point and there will never be time or opportunity to regroup, retrain, and rearm — while the sideshow keeps American intelligence distracted from actual threats against the homeland.

George W. Bush started this war — in part, at least — to “get” that guy who dared try to kill his father. That’s over now, with Saddam swinging by the neck. All the other alleged motivations — remember WMD? — have evaporated. Isn’t it time to admit reality and bring the troops home?

For this administration in this war, failure is not an option… it’s an accomplished fact.