Molly Ivins: This War is Not a Goddamn Comma

"I like to tell people when the final history is written on Iraq, it will look like just a comma because there is -- my point is, there's a strong will for democracy."
-Bush speaking to CNN's Wolf Blitzer on September 24, 2006

The National Intelligence Estimate, agreed upon by 16 Bush-controlled spy services within the U.S. government, says the war in Iraq is making the war on terrorism harder and worse. It gives the phrase "leaking intelligence" a new meaning (a line not original with me).

We've been having a debate in this country about whether to continue the war--or "the comma," as the president calls it--until it has become a semicolon. Now, the debate is over, and what we need to discuss is the best way out. This war is not a goddamn comma.