Guys, I've just read the single most concise, clear, and common-sense appraisal of the situation in Iraq, how it is perceived here in the states by extremes on both sides, and how best to get the hell out in the most practical way.

"Triage Time in Iraq," by Bob Burnett, can be reached at http://www.huffingtonpost.com. Just scan down the left-hand side of the page to the blog section and click on it.

Mr. Burnett compares the situation in Iraq to a mortally wounded patient sent to triage; and points out that, in order to best help this patient, it is critical, first of all, to REALIZE HE IS DYING. 

Only then can you save his life.

He points out flaws with the conservative stance of "Bush broke it, but we've gotta fix it," as wishful thinking based on a "utopian concept" that the patient is not dying. 

Though he doesn't use this analogy, it makes me think of a tragic true case a Dallas prosecutor told me about once, where a woman was assaulted in her home and stabbed to death while her two pre-school little girls cowered in another room.

Too young to understand about dialing 9-11, they did the only thing they knew to do while she was bleeding to death--they covered her wounds with band-aids.

Bush with "troop surge" band-aids is no less tragic.

"Triage decision-making must be based upon clear principles that most Americans agree with," writes Burnett. 

He spells out four principles: protecing the US homeland, focusing our military efforts on eradicating the threat from al Qaeda, and third, as he puts it:

"Iraqis must govern themselves in a way that is satisfactory, rather than ideal." 

To this end, he recommends a slight variation on Joe Biden's plan on partitioning into ethnic areas, even though it has problems of its own, as the one most likely to work.

And fourth, he points out that if the Arab countries have a vested interest in saving Iraq's life, then they must understand that the doctors are leaving and they are going to have to take over the patient's care.

Burnett concludes in this way:

"Realistically, there won't be triage decision-making until there's a new President. In the meantime, the worst of modern Presidents is going to keep on pursuing his illusion of 'victory' in Iraq. The fact that George W. Bush determinedly walks deeper into quicksand doesn't mean that Americans have to follow. But, we do need to gain perspective on what should be done. That's the value of recognizing we must set priorities in the middle of an emergency: it's triage time in Iraq and some of our good intentions are going to die on the battlefield."

The problem with ideologues planning an invasion is that they can't let go of their idealistic vision of what that invasion can accomplish, and they waste too much time and too many lives in denial that the patient's wounds are going to kill him.

The "signature" Iraq war-wound for our soldiers and Marines has been Traumatic Brain Injury.  Our friend, Jamie Woodard, has a son, Ben, who suffered such an injury.

In the beginning, you pray that they will survive. 

Then you pray that they will be all right. 

But after the first year or so, you begin to realize that they are never going to be the same again.  You have to let go of your idealized vision of them as they used to be, and you have to work as hard as you can to see that they regain as many of their old functions as they possibly can so that they can resume some quality of life--different, but no less whole.

The Bush madness that launched this bloodbath is still locked in denial, and in insistence that, if we run out of band-aids, all we have to do to stop the bleeding is get more boxes. 

Like those sad little girls in Dallas, he will not understand the truth in time.

It is important that the American people, our Congressional Democratic Congress, and our presidential candidates understand that they will inherit in two years a patient on life support. 

We will need a clear vision of just what that patient can realistically expect if he is going to live.

And then we need to hand him over to his family; they will be the ones taking care of him.