Negotiations for President Bush’s permanent occupation of Iraq have broken down. Sami al-Askari, a Shiite on the Iraq parliament’s foreign relations committee said, “The Americans are making demands that would lead to the colonization of Iraq. If we can’t reach a fair agreement, many people think we should say, ‘Goodbye, U.S. troops. We don’t need you here anymore.’ ” (Paley and DeYoung, Washington Post Foreign Service, June 11, 2008)

The Senate investigation reported Bush cherry-picked intelligence and lied us into the war. Scott McClellan has exposed Bush’s illegal and un-American activities. Republican icons such as Pat Buchanan denounce this fiasco as a historic mistake. Twice, our intelligence agencies have unanimously reported that the occupation of Iraq has weakened America and strengthened al-Qaida.

This nation needs to impeach Bush and Cheney and bring an end to the criminal waste of lives.

Tom Bulger, Avon