Four years after President Bush claimed “Mission Accomplished,” the mission in Iraq is far from accomplishment.

U.S. troops continue to die in Iraq, even after the president’s declared end of “major combat operations.”

Undeterred, Bush vetoed on Tuesday a $124 billion war spending bill that included a timetable for troop withdrawal, saying a date for withdrawal was a “date for failure.”

Accountability needed

Possible withdrawal aside, we do not see the problem with holding military leadership accountable for progress in the region.

The Bush administration’s argument that progress checks would limit flexibility isn’t sufficient. The military generals haven’t managed to close the war with this flexibility for the entirety of this quagmire.

Well-being of troops crucial

Our troops’ welfare should be the primary concern.

U.S. troops need the emergency funding now, and that capital should not be compromised by a refusal to set a withdrawal timetable.

However, this should be the last in necessary emergency funding. The only mission we want to accomplish is to bring our troops home soon.

Hundreds of soldiers have died already, and the remaining have been stretched physically and emotionally, misled into longer tours of duty. The greatest military in the world is tapped out.

We are vulnerable; aren’t we in the region to prevent rather than provoke?

Troop surge not the answer

This over-extension of resources can be fixed. It starts with not throwing more troops into the line of fire.

It starts with abandoning the troop surge.

The Iraq study group was clear in its declaration that we are in the middle of a civil war and that more troops was not the answer.

The results of that study group should not be ignored.

The public is becoming increasingly apathetic; an April 13 CBS News poll found that only 30 percent of Americans approve of how Bush is doing in Iraq.

The results are clear; it’s time for an overhaul of the Bush administration’s decision making in Iraq.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has even admitted, “We can’t give [Iraqis] a united Iraq.”

She said it. Admission accomplished.