I'm with Edwards

In the weeks to come, I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more arguing on both sides about whether or not Bush and co. used intelligence to push for war in Iraq. I think at this point, however, Jon Edwards has the right attitude:

The argument for going to war with Iraq was based on intelligence that we now know was inaccurate. The information the American people were hearing from the president -- and that I was being given by our intelligence community -- wasn't the whole story. Had I known this at the time, I never would have voted for this war.

George Bush won't accept responsibility for his mistakes. Along with Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, he has made horrible mistakes at almost every step: failed diplomacy; not going in with enough troops; not giving our forces the equipment they need; not having a plan for peace.

Because of these failures, Iraq is a mess and has become a far greater threat than it ever was. It is now a haven for terrorists, and our presence there is draining the goodwill our country once enjoyed, diminishing our global standing. It has made fighting the global war against terrorist organizations more difficult, not less.

The urgent question isn't how we got here but what we do now. We have to give our troops a way to end their mission honorably. That means leaving behind a success, not a failure.

Americans are already believing that Bush manipulated intelligence to get the war that he wanted. But after that argument is won or lost, we will still be in Iraq, still be unable to defend our troops from roadside bombings, and still looking for a milepost that we can claim as victory so we can leave Iraq behind.

The problem now is not how we got there. That will settle out in the shakes of history, and I believe that settling will not be favorable for Bush and co. But what's more important is a plan to get us out of Iraq. The Democrat that can come up with that becomes an instant front runner in 2008.