Lastly, our military is stretched dangerously thin, further compromising our national security interests. Gen.  George Casey recently noted that "[t]he cumulative effects of the last six-plus years at war have left our Army out of balance, consumed by the current fight and unable to do the things we need to do to properly sustain our all-volunteer force and restore our flexibility for an uncertain future." 

While polls show that most Americans understand that the war was a tragic mistake, President Bush and Vice President Cheney continue to demonstrate that they have learned little or nothing from this monumental blunder.  Bush continues to insinuate that al Qaeda in Iraq, which wasn't there before the war, is connected to the al Qaeda that carried out the terrorist attacks of September 11^th.

Vice President Cheney also refuses to face the sad facts, declaring at a news conference last week that the war in Iraq has been "well worth the effort."  When asked about recent polls that show two-thirds of Americans believe the war in Iraq wasn't worth it, Cheney replied, "So?"

The unfortunate truth is that in launching a pre-emptive war based on faulty intelligence and groundless assumptions, without the support of key allies, and with no real plan to win the peace, President Bush's war of choice was a tremendous mistake.

Instead of furthering American interests, it has bred deep resentment around the world, cost America dearly in lives and treasure, and has done nothing to make us safer. 

Spencer P. Boyer is Director of International Law and Diplomacy at the Center for American Progress, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank