V-E-T-O.

Ashley Gilbertson is author of the forthcoming book "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot: A Photographer's Chronicle of the Iraq War". Image © Ashley Gilbertson. Baghdad. March 28, 2007. "Ed Wong and I had been out for a few days on an embed in Baghdad when we chanced upon two Shiite militia men attempting to evict a Sunni family -- Suaada Saadoun and her family of seven -- from their home in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood. American and Kurdish soldiers intervened and arrested the two men, then returned to base. The next morning we found out that Suaada had been assassinated on her way home from the market. I accompanied the Americans to the house and the crime scene. I saw her family grieving, the bullet that killed her, and the upper plate of her dentures that had fallen out when she was killed." Click for larger picture.


The Veto has the problem of Iraq completely tied up in language. We could simply disengage with a plan crafted by our military commanders. We are occupiers. We have ruined a country and a population beyond anything anyone could imagine. This occupation reeks of death for no purpose. Really, could the chaos be any worse? Are we to remain in Iraq for two decades, staving off the tribal assaults upon each other? Holding back the dam? Stability? WE can't create stability. Only a legitimate government can do that.

The depth of the dilemma is so great that there is ONLY one solution and that is to carefully remove ourselves. There is no win or lose. There is no honor in what we are doing or in staying. The Democrat's plan was actually the most flexible one that could be devised. The October date was a "soft" date. The President and his commanders had all the leeway imaginable in the proposal put forward. The administration characterizes the proposal with the utmost misinterpretation, as they usually do.

Stop the war. Now. Get our kids home. Keep saying it.