FIVE YEARS LATER

Excerpted from a blog post by Barack Obama:
"Five years ago, President George W. Bush launched a war that should never have been authorized based on faulty premises and bad intelligence.
"This war has now lasted longer than World War I, World War II, or the Civil War.
"Nearly four thousand Americans have given their lives. Thousands more have been wounded. Even under the best-case scenarios, this war will cost American taxpayers well over a trillion dollars.
"And where are we for all of this sacrifice?
"We are less safe and less able to shape events abroad. We are divided at home, and our alliances around the world have been strained. The threats of a new century have roiled the waters of peace and stability, and yet America remains anchored in Iraq."