Lynn C. Woolsey: “at the end of last month, the United States Government handed control of Iraq ``back to its people.'' And everyone I…”

“at the end of last month, the United States Government handed control of Iraq ``back to its people.'' And everyone I know who is being at all intellectually honest believes that the choice of a June 30 deadline was driven more by the political calendar than anything else. The Bush administration wants to have it both ways. They want to go before the voters with ``clean hands'' in the fall to say that the job has been completed just as they tried to declare ``mission accomplished'' a year ago, but at the same time remaining in charge of this occupation, while even after the handover, U.S. troops and other officials will enjoy full immunity if they should destroy property or kill Iraqi citizens. Coming on the heels of the Abu Ghraib revelations, this arrogance and lack of accountability is absolutely staggering. The war in Iraq has already cost lives of hundreds of American soldiers, 25,000 being injured, the lives of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians, and billions of dollars that should have been invested right here at home. This war has diverted resources from the struggle against al Qaeda, the group actually responsible for the atrocities of 9/11. Now al Qaeda has regrouped and poses as great a strength and threat as ever. This case for war was built on dubious intelligence and outright deceptions.”