If Saddam had truly been manufacturing WMDs and/or partnering with Al Qaida on terrorism against U.S. citizens, I would have supported the war in a heartbeat. But the evidence was weak, ephemeral and suspect from the very beginning. This has now been unequivocally shown to be the case.

But a war of liberation makes even less sense if there is no local resolve to carry it through. We just presumed that the Iraqis wanted to be liberated and went about doing it without even asking and without an ounce of their support. That's not how wars of liberation are won - but it is how they are lost. Instead of Iraqis dying for their own freedom, its our soldiers who are dying on their behalf - and taking thousands of innocent civilians in collateral damage with them. That won't exactly win hearts and minds.

This reckless adventure into Iraq was unwarranted and unnecessary. At a time when this country needs to be focussed on homeland security, access to health care for all Americans, and rebuilding our economy, we're spending billions in Iraq for an ungrateful populace. Our focus should have remained in Afghanistan and finishing off Al-Qaida. Bush should have been showing real leadership to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Any good that might have risen from the awful ashes of the 9/11 has been squandered and lost by an incompetent presidency.

George Bush reminds me of Don Quixote tilting at windmills.

By the way, the Bush death count just hit 650.