Check out the photo from Iraq at the Young Fogey’s site — vastly sad, vastly disturbing.

This is what it is all about. It is not mysterious “terrorists” lurking in the shadows. It is not about a few bad apples in a large society. It is about killing, and the vast number of innocents, in the vastly larger context of a society, all of whom are suffering.

It is these three children today. There will be more tomorrow, more the day after, more every day on into the future. Perhaps John McCain is right – it will be 100 years.

Whether we personally pulled the trigger, dropped the bomb, placed the mine or not, we got the ball rolling based on lies, false pretense, and a concerted effort to keep citizens of the United States in a state of fear. We went against the advice of world leaders and the pope. We initiated a war of aggression, not of defense. We gave those who harbor evil the excuse they needed, just as we have provided the excuse for the fathers and uncles of those children. Therefore we must admit our mistake. We must extricate ourselves. We started this war. Certainly we cannot end it just by leaving — but if one less dies because we leave then something real will be achieved. If one moment of truth emerges because we leave, then something real will be achieved.

God forgive our complacency in the face of the evil we are doing.