put bluntly and truthfully

Bob Herbert at the NY Times has a great Op/Ed column today. Most of the reasons I've been against this war from the get-go are covered in it (except for the loss of civilian life). An excerpt:

To what end? You can wave goodbye to the naïve idea that democracy would take root in Iraq and then spread like the flowers of spring throughout the Middle East. That was never going to happen. So what are we there for, other than to establish a permanent military stronghold in the region and control the flow of Iraqi oil?
. . . . . .
The Iraqi insurgents - whether one agrees with them or not - believe they are fighting for their homeland, their religion and their families. The Americans are not at all clear what they're fighting for. Saddam is gone. There were no weapons of mass destruction. The link between Saddam and the atrocities of Sept. 11 was always specious and has been proven so.

The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: How Many Deaths Will It Take?