"To Leave Iraq, take the next exit ramp..."

The Iraq war is lost. In my view it was lost the day those scandalous pictures from the Abu Ghraib prison were published.

The window of opportunity for a face saving exit is shutting fast! Since the Congressional elections in America, the political debate in America seems to be shifting from whether or not to "stay the course" or "cut and run" as it were. Now the debate is shifting to when and how to withdraw and disengage. Donald Rumsfeld had been fired. Dick Cheney is largely marginalised. The Neo Con cheerleader troupe has made an about face and is now claiming that the war was a good idea but was just managed badly... TYPICAL BUREAUCRATIC HOGWASH!!

Those of us who opposed this illegal invasion before the fact said that it would lead to chaos and civil war. I remember members of the British government crowing about the success of their venture in 2004. Now thier only recourse in a debate is "...so would you prefer it if Saddam Hussein was still in power?" Having lived under the dark clouds of dictatorship of Sani Abacha's Nigeria in the late 1990s i can say with some authority, YES!! Under Saddam, Iraqis may not have been free but the lines they were not to cross were clearly defined. Now, no one knows if he will be the victim of a suicide bomber in a market place.. or if he will be kidnapped by sectarian militia rife in the police force.. or maybe even just caught in the crossfire between skirmishing neighbourhoods. Life was much more certain and stable under the dictator which is saying something! Bush and Blair have taken a bad situation and turned it into a disaster. Tony Blair is latched on so tight that he may just follow the Bush administration as they "stay the course" right off the edge of the cliff...

THE ONLY LEGACY BUSH AND BLAIR WILL HAVE IS IRAQ. AN ERROR OF JUDGEMENT 100 TIMES WORSE THAN SUEZ!