On the sixth anniversary of the disastrous 9/11 attack on the United States, Bush's top military commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, gave his assessment of the war to the President and members of Congress. Petraeus recommended that a 2,000-member Marine unit return home this month without replacement. That would be followed in mid-December with the departure of an Army brigade numbering 3,500 to 4,000 soldiers. Under the general’s plan, four more brigades would be withdrawn by July 2008 — though he said it was premature to set the pace of that withdrawal.

Six years after the start of the war there is still no real end in sight.

JUST BRING OUR TROOPS HOME
(An open letter to General Patraeus)

Dear General Petraeus,
Please don’t betray us,
Whatever you do,
Just bring our troops back!
We’ve been at this so long.
But we just don’t belong,
If there’s one thing that’s true,
We should just leave Iraq!

They gave us a scare,
But we’re not wanted there,
We went in with a rush
And that tyrant Sadam had to go.
Now, there’s nothing to fight for,
It’s not even the right war.
For the oil’s just not ready to gush,
And we don’t really know who’s the foe!

There’s talk of a draw-down,
Wait too long and we’ll fall down.
We just need to depart
Before it’s too late.
Whether Sunni or Shiite,
They just have to fight,
So we just have to start
And leave them to their fate.

So lay down a deadline,
It would make a good headline,
Whatever you do,
Just bring our troops back!
We’ve been there too long.
And we just don’t belong,
If there’s one thing that’s true,
We should just leave Iraq!