New mission - begin phased withdrawal from Iraq

If the leaders of this nation wanted to give the people something to be truly grateful about this Thanksgiving, it would be a beginning to the end of the military mission in Iraq.

Let's concede that the Iraqi people will never share the American vision of victory and democracy, and let's start getting U.S. forces out of that hell. There will be nearly 3,000 empty places at Thanksgiving dinners around the country this week because of the war that went so quickly from cakewalk to quagmire. Estimates of the death toll among Iraqis range from low to high six figures, mostly from Iraqis killing each other in the lawlessness, power struggles and terrorism that have followed the ouster of Saddam Hussein.

The Iraqis have had more than three years to stop the bloodletting and take responsibility for their own future as a nation. With each passing day's atrocities, it becomes clear that the warring factions have no interest in sharing power through representative government. They prefer to battle for dominance. The U.S. military has no safe place in the middle of that.

"While war is never desirable," the Detroit Free Press said in an editorial when the U.S. initiated this conflict in March 2003, "in this case it is justifiable." That was based on the belief that Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and was intent on using them, and that the Iraqi people would embrace democracy. The first was not true, the second has not come true. It's time to change plans.

The American sense of honor says we cannot leave Iraq in worse shape than we found it, and that American forces must stand up for the innocent Iraqis who are caught up in the warfare and often slaughtered just for venturing to a market or taking a job with the police. The American sense of pride says if we leave, we lose _ and we don't go to war to lose.

But there are options other than "cut and run" and "stay the course" _ which is what we are doing by our continued presence at current force levels, even if President George W. Bush now eschews the phrase.

There is also an "exit strategy" of phased withdrawals, similar to what U.S. Sen. Carl Levin is proposing, although there's nothing magic about Levin's four-to-six-month timetable for beginning a pullout. It could take a few years, but each move will help Iraqi leaders understand that U.S. forces do not serve at their pleasure and will not remain until the Iraqis decide the troops are no longer needed. That is not Iraq's call to make. That is America's decision, and the results of the Nov. 7 election sent a pretty clear signal which way America wants its troops to go: home.

If the terrorists want to crow about defeating America, let them. The forces leaving Iraq can be put to much better use in a refocused war on terror that would strike at its infrastructure and breeding grounds.

The new Defense secretary and the new Congress present an opportunity to affect a new strategy based on getting America out of Iraq before too many more vacancies are created at holiday dinner tables. History may show that the American military took out an evil dictator on a flawed premise and was then handed a flawed strategy to rebuild a nation in America's image. Mission not accomplished.

New mission: End this mounting loss of American lives in a cause that only Iraqis can win.