Can you see it now, Mr. Bush?

I've criticized the war in Iraq since before it began. In conversations with friends of apposing views, I argued that our forces would not be met with flowers, but that there would also be a Vietnam like guerrilla war once we got to Baghdad. All the while I was told that it would be a quick victory and that everything Rumsfeld had claimed before the war would prove true. Where I was wrong in my arguments, was the timing of the resistance. I thought it would be immediate, but as we know, it built over time. I also didn't believe that elections would occur, but at this point that seems irrelevant as well.

My opposition to the war was not due to my politically Left nature per se, but I think it allowed me to play devil's advocate and assume a realistic, not nationalistic point of view when considering our invading force. We all know that Bush has been trying to secure his place in history, and I think he has done that. He got us into a mess that his brand of politics cannot get us out of. Bush isn't one to admit defeat and reverse course, but now even Henry Kissinger has doubts:

In a wide ranging interview with the British Broadcasting Corp., Kissinger presented a bleak vision of Iraq, saying the U.S. government must enter dialogue with Iraq's regional neighbors — including Iran — if any progress is to be made in the region.

"If you mean, by 'military victory,' an Iraqi government that can be established and whose writ runs across the whole country, that gets the civil war under control and sectarian violence under control in a time period that the political processes of the democracies will support, I don't believe that is possible," Kissinger told the BBC's "Sunday AM" program.

Although Kissinger also said that immediate withdraw would also have devastating consequences, there are very few beyond our President who think that this is still a winnable situation.

My cousin is in Iraq and is scheduled to come home in January. I worry for him daily, and I support him fully. That, of course, is the thing we must say when we appose the war, but it is true. I know that my cousin's intentions are true as I believe the intentions of the bulk of our troops as well. But I have never supported the war itself, and I think it is time for it to end.

I would not say that our troops presence has been in any way a waste of their lives and limbs, but the horrible mismanagement of the war from Washington has put such a cost on our people, that I hope history, at the very least, will remember George W Bush as our worst president. I hope that this designation comes swiftly and within his lifetime. This is what he deserves. I'm sure if he were a riverboat captain and decided to take an alternate tributary, only to find that a waterfall were straight ahead, he would still shout out, "Stay the course!" For this is what he has been doing all along with this war.

There is no king to capture in this game, it is an ideology we are against. It is the fear of a people who don't want to be controlled by what they see as an imperial and evil force. How are we supposed to win a military victory unless we destroy half of the population?! Unfortunately continuing on this military course will result in just that.

I hope someone can find a way out of this mess soon and find a way to make it all work out. I want peace in the Middle East and I want democracy there as well, but we have been on the wrong course for nearly four years. It's time to change course. It was time a long time ago.