Quit and leave Iraq to the insurgency. At least that's what's shaping up on all the leftist fronts I've seen in the past couple of weeks. Oh, it's disguised as "deadlines" and "exit strategies," but it's there. Got a great e-mail today from Democrats.com:

Help us collect 1 million signatures to tell George Bush it's time to get Out Of Iraq.

Thanks to the Downing Street Memos, we now know George Bush's invasion of Iraq in 2003 was based entirely on lies. Iraq had no stockpiles of WMD's or Al Qaeda ties, and Bush knew it. And Bush had no plans to rebuild Iraq after his invasion.

Two years later, Iraq is a bloody quagmire:

- U.S. soldier deaths are approaching 2,000, while over 12,000 have been maimed and 17% of combat troops are already suffering from PTSD

- At least 22,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed, possibly over 100,000

- U.S. taxpayers have been burdened with $200 billion more in debt

- Torture approved by the White House has made the world hate us

- The war has tripled global terrorism, not reduced it

- Military retention and recruitment are down, making America weaker

Because of these huge costs, the American people now oppose the war by 59%-39%. But George Bush stubbornly refuses to discuss a timetable for withdrawal - ignoring a request by 82 Iraqi Members of Parliament!

On Thanksgiving Day 2003, Bush snuck into Iraq to deliver a fake turkey to our troops. On Thanksgiving Day 2005, Bush should end his "turkey" of a war by starting to bring our troops home.

Help us collect 1 million signatures to tell George Bush it's time to get Out Of Iraq.

I didn't include links, and I'm not going to bother to fisk this, but this is going to be the main strategy of the Democrats in coming weeks.

The Left has bet everything on this winding up another Vietnam. They've disassociated themselves from the war entirely. This is "Bush's War." They want this war LOST. Imagine what would happen to them politically if it succeeds. After this much open obstruction, there's no way they will be able to finesse their way on to the bandwagon, like they did with the Cold War.

When someone like Charles Rangel tells you otherwise, he's lying in his teeth.