Truth.

From Juan Cole…

The threat of terrorism and attacks on Americans just went way up.

The port story is another important episode in the tradition of Republican weakness concerning our national security, but this is a far more present danger.

With the dictator deposed and the reconstruction abandoned for all practical (as opposed to profitable) purposes, the last glimmer of a rationale for a continued American deployment in Iraq has been the hope of somehow averting civil war before we could impose a stable government in some form, ideally in the form of a reliable trading partner, I suppose.

That's gone. While some of us have seen the evidence of civil war for some time, from today forward there's simply no room for denial. As Professor Cole says, this is apocalyptic.

It's time to plan and execute a withdrawal of American forces from Iraqi territory, a plan who's only consideration is the safety of American troops.

We deposed the dictator. They have their country. Let them make of it what they will.