Time to go home

Well, in response to the alleged massacre of Iraqi civilians at Haditha last fall by American troops, Iraq's Prime Minister has accused the United States of daily attacks against Iraqi citizens. I'm sorry, but this is about the end of things, my friends. As Ron pointed out yesterday, exemplified by this new story, it's over. Stick a fork in it... it's done.

As outrage over reports that American marines killed 24 Iraqis in the town of Haditha last year continued to shake the new government, the country's senior leaders said that they would demand that American officials turn over their investigative files on the killings and that the Iraqi government would conduct its own inquiry.

In his comments, Mr. Maliki said violence against civilians had become a "daily phenomenon" by many troops in the American-led coalition who "do not respect the Iraqi people."

Whatever Nuri Kamal al-Maliki's reasons may have been for making that statement to his people may have been doesn't really matter. Perhaps he sees this as the true state of affairs. Possibly he is politically motivated, sensing a growing air of anger at the Americans among his constituents. But no matter what the cause, the damage is done. The people we are supposedly there to protect and support are now being told by their leaders that we are the problem, not the cure. We are the evil, not the saviors.

Even if you are among those who believed that this mssion could have been won, this is the final knell of the bells. It's over. It's time to listen to John Murtha, pull the hell out of there and redeploy our troops to more sensible locations. The adventure in Iraq has failed, once and for all.