The last eight years have seen reckless national security policies that have cost trillions of dollars, thousands of American lives, and eroded the world’s trust in this country’s intentions. Worst of all, it has been a foreign policy that has divided Americans. It has turned us against each other at a time when our economy is floundering, when we’re being squeezed at the pump, at grocery stores, and when our veterans are going without proper healthcare. It has divided us when we most need to unify.

Since we invaded Iraq in 2003, more than 4,000 American troops have lost their lives and almost 30,000 more have suffered serious injuries. An untold number of Iraqi citizens have been killed and more than four million are refugees or displaced in their own country. The cost to the treasury for all this is more than $3 trillion. A consensus, even among President Bush’s allies, is beginning to emerge that the war was badly conceived, poorly engineered, and a drain on our resources. Our soldiers continue to fight valiantly, but politicians have let them down.