March 2, 2009 1:43 PM

Light at the End of the Iraq Tunnel

Late last week, President Obama fulfilled a campaign promise to bring the troops home from Iraq. It was not as quickly as I wanted, to be sure, but it was pretty close to what he promised. And that is good news. It has been a very long time coming.

We came out against invading Iraq in the summer of 2002 - even before White House Chief of Staff admitted that building public support for the invasion was like a product rollout at his former employer General Motors - you don't do it in August. We knew that Saddam was a sadistic thug, but he posed no threat to us. We worked very hard to convince Congress to halt Bush's drive to war, but they caved. Fearful of being attacked as soft, undermined by a press corp that dutifully reported straightout propoganda and ignored thoughtful, better informed opponents.

The cost to us as citizens, to our soldiers, and to the Iraqi people has been massive - and we have gained nothing. Control of Iraq has largely passed from minority Sunni control to majority Shia control. Iran has more influence. Women are now horribly repressed.

With few exceptions, the entire world opposed the invasion of Iraq. And yet our government, led by George Bush, invaded in our name.

Elections matter.