resident George W. Bush, who has spent fully 20% of his  chief executive tenure down on the Texas ranch at Crawford, has never been honest with us about this war and now, more than ever, we desperately need a  serious look at a possible alternative to his failed approach in Iraq.

The President has no strategy or plan for winning the war, so we are "quagmired." Despite the talk of possibly diminishing our presence, the way things are going, it appears more and more likely that we'll have a military presence for many years. And the death rate and the casualty lists mount by the day. I know the question I would love someone to ask him; "Mr. President, have you any regrets whatsoever about the death and destruction that you set in motion when you started this war, because sir, it doesn't appear so." We know he doesn't read newspapers, but I just wish he'd take a few minutes out of his daily 2-hour workouts to read the polls. The polls show that the public, by a large majority, has had enough; they are weary of the conflict and the constantly mounting human toll.
Just yesterday the Sec. of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld said again that the current ever increasing level of violence in Iraq may well escalate as their elections approach.
Those of us who are critical of the stated reasons for the war... Those of us who feel that Mr. Bush declared war on the advice of his advisors, because he could... Those of us who feel that this was the wrong war, at the wrong time and in the wrong country, are patriots. We support our troops. That is why we we'd like to know how he proposes winning this war. In all likelihood there will be a civil war and it is possible that Iran and Syria will be anything but helpful to us. Mr. President enjoy your long vacation and when it is over call for a national dialogue of thinkers to come forth with a serious national discussion of what has to be done to improve the current predicament in Iraq.
Why is there no sense of urgency apparent within the Bush administration, but then, down on the ranch, when you don't read newspapers (you've made that claim many times), perhaps it is tough to concentrate on more than tumbling tumbleweeds.