Sens. Snowe and Collins have a lot of catching up to do with their constituents about Iraq.

The Sun Journal reported a poll recently showing that Mainers, by a margin of almost two to one, now believe that invading Iraq was a mistake, that President Bush has mishandled the war, and that our efforts there are failing.

Our senators need to catch up with the American generals who testified recently that Iraq is heading to civil war, and those generals need to catch up with the American officers in Baghdad who, as also reported, acknowledge that a civil war is already under way. One of those officers said, “There’s no plan … I have absolutely no idea what we’re going to do.”

Actually, President Bush has a plan.

He is sending more American soldiers – more Maine soldiers – into Baghdad without a plan. He is making them targets of all sides in that war.

Meanwhile, the Sun Journal reported another poll showing that, despite the sectarian slaughter and cleansing they are suffering, 90 percent of Iraqis agree on one thing: American forces are making things worse for them and should leave.

If Sens. Snowe and Collins were really Margaret Chase Smith’s successors, as they claim to be, they would stop acting as if Bush knows what he’s doing in Iraq and start voting to bring our men and women home.

James Parakilas, Lewiston