The many disappointments and crimes and blunders do not relieve us of a responsibility that is either insufficiently stressed or else passed over entirely: What is to become, in the event of a withdrawal, of the many Arab and Kurdish Iraqis who do want to live in a secular and democratic and federal country? We have acquired this responsibility not since 2003, or in the sideshow debate over prewar propaganda, but over decades of intervention in Iraq's affairs,

Unlike Hitchens I question the wisdom of starting this conflaguration in the first place. Furthermore, I'm probably more unhappy than he is about the Administration's pattern of firing people who told them the truth and retaining people who told them what they wanted to hear. But regardless, its worth pointing out that the war did, in fact, happen, and withdrawing from Iraq will not undo that. In fact, one of my most serious criticisms of this whole adventure is the reality that in removing Hussein we may have unleashed forces that will make the region a thousand times more dangerous and oppressive. What that means is now we have a responsibility and a clear need to be there. I do worry that in burning the Republicans for incompetence we'll replace then with Democrats who want us to withdraw. Leaving Iraq to it's own devices after casting it into chaos is the worst thing we can possibly do. If that point has been insufficiently stressed then let it be heard.