The reality is that we have missed a lot of opportunities in Iraq because of a failed policy.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Put simply, the Bush administration policy in the Middle East is continuing to fail.
In Iraq we must succeed. Failure is not an option.
There's been a lot of disappointments with the Iraqi army, no doubt about that. Some units have performed well, especially their special operations units. But a lot of their units have not.
One can't doubt that the American objective in Iraq has failed - different plans have to be made. And the kernel here is the acknowledgement of defeat.
The historic lesson is that it was a strategic failure to go into Iraq. History will not be and should not be kind with that decision.
We have a failed state in Syria.
It is hard as an American to support the failure of American military operations in Iraq. Such failure will bring with it the death and wounding of many American service members, and many more Iraqis.
If we have a chance of succeeding and bringing stability and democracy to Iraq, it will mean learning from our mistakes, not denying them and not ignoring them.
Mission accomplished? The mission in Iraq, as laid out by President Bush and Vice President Cheney, has failed.
We can't have a failure in Iraq, but we also can't be there for the next 10 years because if we are, it's going to become, I think, a failure in and of itself.