Seattle P-I: Time for us to get out of Iraq (with poll)

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/249348_gohomed.asp#pollArticle

Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Iraq: A consensus
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD

At last, Iraq's disparate factions have found something on which they can agree: They want us out of their country. The closing memorandum of a meeting of 100 Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish leaders Monday "demands a withdrawal of foreign troops on a specified timetable, dependent on an immediate national program for rebuilding the security forces."

The U.N. mandate under which the occupation took place expires at the end of the year. And besides, we thought the objective was to give the Iraqis their country back, and now they've clearly asked to have it back, under a specific timetable.

Reaching this consensus among those representing the three major -- and often conflicting -- elements in Iraq offers valuable lessons for us Americans, who also find ourselves at times bitterly divided over the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

... And perhaps the bigger lesson for Americans is that we must accept that Iraqis of all stripes view us not as liberators but occupiers.