Iraq

In 1926, Winston Churchill said: "I hate Iraq. I wish we had never gone to the place". The irony is that he had invented the country, along with British Petroleum - now BP, to ensure that the Royal Navy would have a reliable source of oil.

He also said that Americans can always be counted on to do the right thing...after they have exhausted all other possibilities.

Senator McCain's victory in the Florida primary bring us a little more hope that America will do the right thing in Iraq.

I don't believe that we should have invaded Iraq in the first place. Saddam Hussein was contained - at a reasonable cost - and, as it turned out, the intelligence claiming that there were weapons of mass destruction was wildly inaccurate if not fictional.

The problem is former Secretary of State Colin Powell's "Pottery Barn Rule". If you break it, you own it. We broke it, so now we own it.

While we are not going t0 be able to fix it, I do believe that we have a moral imperative to stay long enough to give the Iraqis the conditions under which they can develop a solution for themselves and the time to do so. Leaving abruptly is likely to result in chaos, ethnic cleansing, civil war, excessive Iranian influence or any combination of these things.

Senator McCain understands the issues and the others probably do. The others, however, are pandering to the "peace at any price" crowd. Just so long as that crowd understands that the price is likely to be very high: for the Iraqis and for us.