It’s no secret that the Bush administration’s war in Iraq is not going well. Bush’s approval rating for conducting the war are at an all-time low, several retired Army generals are ripping Donald Rumsfeld a new one over his “arrogance” and “incompetence,” and most recently, a general who was part of the war planning effort now calls it a big mistake:

I now regret that I did not more openly challenge those who were determined to invade a country whose actions were peripheral to the real threat--al-Qaeda. . . . I am driven to action now by the missteps and misjudgments of the White House and the Pentagon, and by my many painful visits to our military hospitals. . . . The cost of flawed leadership continues to be paid in blood. . . .

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s recent statement that “we” made the “right strategic decisions” but made thousands of “tactical errors” is an outrage. It reflects an effort to obscure gross errors in strategy by shifting the blame for failure to those who have been resolute in fighting. The truth is, our forces are successful in spite of the strategic guidance they receive, not because of it. . . .

The commitment of our forces to this fight was done with a casualness and swagger that are the special province of those who have never had to execute these missions--or bury the results. . . . The consequence of the military’s quiescence was that a fundamentally flawed plan was executed for an invented war, while pursuing the real enemy, al-Qaeda, became a secondary effort.

Wow -- those are some pretty harsh words. Nonetheless, I am thrilled to finally hear what many of us who have always been against the war have known all along -- invading Iraq was a colossal mistake.

How many more generals will have to end their silence and speak up against the administration’s callous action before we say enough is enough? How many more revelations of the administration ignoring intelligence that contradicted their overzealous war plans? How much more billions should we divert away from much needed domestic programs like education and social security?

And finally, how many more of our brothers, sisters, neighbors, friends, sons, and daughters serving in Iraq have to die before we say enough is enough?