As talk increases about the removal of troops from Iraq the question becomes once again, “who will be the last to die for a mistake”. But ultimately you are just as dead whether you die first or die last.

I stopped counting the number of times I heard Iraq referred to as a “balancing act” on Sunday morning by the many esteemed congressmen and experts offered up by the media as after-breakfast assurance that all is well and going pretty much as planned over there.

And I guess “balancing act” describes it. We are walking a tightrope without a safety net and the sooner we get across the chasm the better. The only problem is the other side is worse than the side we started from.

I am amazed at those who continue to believe that the Middle East is more stable and less dangerous than it was before our foray into Iraq. It saddens me that they cannot see it my way or that I cannot see it theirs.

The horror of this nonsense hit particularly close to my hometown recently.

The look of grief on this mothers face and the actual grief in her heart must be multiplied tens of thousands of times in order for us to even begin to understand the consequences of military solutions.

And I fear things will get much, much worse before they get better.