I recently read a bumper sticker that read: Quagmire accomplished.

That's exactly what we have here. I don't like the idea of sending more of our troops over there, but we can't just pull out either, because the Iraqis are not prepared to defend themselves fully. But there will come a day when they must be. Just last week the Iraqi army was in a battle and asked for assistance from the U.S. We can't abandon them now. Al Qaeda must be dealt with.

But commiting 21,500 more troops is not the way to do it. U.S. forces will be engaged in bloody street fighting that will not resolve the ongoing turmoil and the sectarian and ethnic strife. The anti-American insurgency will not be deterred.