It's the fourth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war. This insane action has caused the deaths of over 3000 US troops, hundreds of troops from some of our allies, and untold tens- or hundreds-of-thousands of Iraqis. And then there are the injuries, not just to the bodies that will remain limbless or scarred, not just to the spirits of those who live in fear and danger with this war every day, but also to the very soul of our nation. This despicable orgy of killing has been executed by our government in our names--an illegal war, sold on lies, fought with incompetence from our leaders, and paid for by our nation's poor who receive neither the tax benefits of the rich nor their social benefits of finding ways to avoid military service during times of national crisis.

Today we are shamed by our failures, and we are angered by what has been perpetrated in our name. The war must end. If Congress is unwilling to defund the war in order to stop it, we should begin working today to oust every single Congressperson who votes against such an action. We should replace them all with representatives who will take their Constitutional duty seriously. And we should not elect anyone to the presidency who does not support a complete withdrawal of our forces within a reasonable time-frame (6 months).

And once the war is over, even if it has to wait until after January 20, 2009, the current so-called leaders in our nation's capital need to be tried and convicted for the war crimes they have committed. Impeachment does not seem like a political reality at this point, with the next presidential election only a year and a half away. So we need to be certain to elect a president who will end this thing and elect a congress that will pursue investigations and oversight even after the fact.

We can no longer allow these brutal acts to be carried out in our name.