In the last article I summed up the events that led America to the dusty quagmire of Iraq that it is drowning in today. A few weeks back the hysteria surrounding so called elections where people didn't know who or what they were voting for and which disenfranchised the Sunni people was astonishing. You could almost here the ignorant bellowing 'mission accomplished' once again. But what's actually changed? The sad news over recent days where over a hundred people were killed in a single car bomb attack illustrates what I said before the January 'elections'. Violence rarely lessens, it's like a drug; it grows and feeds on itself until something gives, something changes. Putting purple paint on people's fingers hasn't changed a damn thing in Iraq as violence continues unabated and the country remains insecure with all the usual problems that that engenders.

There's one thing that stands out though. It would be criminal for the US to pull out unilaterally now, even if that's what some dubiously 'elected list' suggests. Which it does't dare to. The so called anti-war movement needs to recognise and consider some unpalatable truths.

1. The US must stay in Iraq and pay the price of the blood of her children for creating the unecessary debacle in Iraq - the US broke it the US owns it.

2. That a formal draft must be initiated to relieve the unfair burden on those cooks, janitors and bottle-washers that have been drafted by the backdoor stop-loss programme. They are exhausted, demoralised and defeated. They have been used shamelessly by Bush as cannon fodder - the burden must be widened and shared by the whole of America.

3. That the oil industry in Iraq must be taken into public ownership so that it becomes accountable and belongs to the Iraqi people and not siphoned off to private foreign (American) ownership.

4. That Bush, Rumsfeld and company should be removed from office by whatever means for their criminal incompetence.

5. That a set of objectives be formulated which gives a structured timetable for the withdrawal of coalition troops from Iraq.

6. That a reconciliation process be initiated so that every man woman and child wounded, maimed or killed in Iraq because of the war is accounted for and compensated for.

Anti-war is the wrong word to use, for it implies the cowardly, selfish abandonment of Iraq to the forces of absolute chaos. America must stay until the bitter end. What is needed now is the recognition and punishment of those responsible for this murderous fiasco, and their replacement with a logical, practical and fact based task force as opposed to the naive, idealogical and imperialist incompetents that had no idea of what they were doing.

There are those that say America should just pull out, that they are the reason why the dozens of daily attacks occur. What these people fail to recognise is that there is and has been a civil war in Iraq for some time now, that most of the attacks are Iraqis against other Iraqis and that the departure of American troops will not defuse the bomb that has already gone off. It's only a matter of time before the Shias start responding to the largely Sunni attacks against them, and that time will come sooner rather than later if the US pulls out.

This is not a right or left wing issue, not a Republican vs Democrat debating contest, it is deadly serious. It is about competence, mission rescue and the security of the Iraqi people. It's about recognising that the architects of this immoral war are not competent to clean up the bloody mess that they've created. It's about demonstrating that America actually does have moral values that they so vociferously proclaim while torturing and murdering innocent people in places like Guantanamo, Bagram and Abu Ghraib. It's about taking responsibility for her actions and making amends to the devastated people of Iraq. America owes.

Anti-war is a misnomer, as is pro-war. There are plenty of Republicans that are horrified at what has been done in both their names and in America's. To be anti-war or pro-war has been rendered meaningless. The third way is about cleaning up the hell on earth that Bush has created in Iraq, and creating a state that is secure, self-determining and has a viable economic future. I'll leave it to others to come up with appropriate jargon, but it's time for the Democrats and Republicans to come together and unite in order to remove the moronic, divisive, immoral architects of the Iraqi war and ensure that the occupation is terminated in such a manner that Iraq is left a legacy that leaves her intact, secure, viable and free.

yechydda,