I note that President Bush has been on the stump of late trying to sell the war in Iraq.

Sadly, there is nothing to sell. Bush well knows now that he made a huge miscalculation, and there is no good staying and no good exit strategy.

Going in, he thought:

• They would find weapons of mass destruction.

• It would be over in a matter of days with Iraqis throwing flowers and not bombs.

• Our very good secular friend, Ahmed Chalabi, who sat with the Bushes at his inauguration, would rule the country and be our close ally.

• That oil revenue would pay for the whole adventure, so it would cost us nothing.

We know there were no WMDs, Chalabi turned out to be working for our good friends in Iran, the flowers are killing us, and the deficit is mortgaging our children because the president does not even have the integrity to have us pay our own way.

If Bush could go back and make the decision all over again, knowing then what he knows now, would he still invade Iraq?

Would you?

Not a chance.

The saddest part of all is that now when he says we cannot just pack up and leave, he may just be right. That does not mean we should ever forget, or ever forgive, his colossal blunder.

Jonathan Harris, Auburn