Exit without apologies

Saddam Hussein is toppled from power. The fundamental aim of the Iraq war is accomplished. Now is the time to plan to leave and bring American forces home.

As noted in a series of editorials that began on Sunday and ends today, the passage of time only erodes confidence in an enterprise we initially supported. Successive layers of President Bush's rationales for the war were stripped bare. No weapons of mass destruction were found, no prewar terrorist havens or links to Sept. 11, 2001.

The war caused untold suffering in Iraq and it has taken its own toll at home in grieving families, mourning communities and a loss of confidence in our elected leaders.

Our military, a mix of regular and reserve forces, did all that was asked of them. Too often, they were ill-served by failures to adequately equip and prepare them for the war and its aftermath. They were failed by civilian leadership that did not understand Iraq's culture and history, and the complexity of the mission.

The Iraq war lingers on the home front through the Patriot Act, with its disturbing invasions of privacy and intrusions upon civil liberties. American values were further assaulted by military prison scandals and isolation of prisoners outside the law.

U.S. taxpayers await an honest accounting of the war's costs and the financial obligations for postwar reconstruction.

Questions remain, but the U.S. can exit Iraq without apologies.

Saddam sits in jail. Iraqis are free to decide their own future. More than 1,700 American lives were sacrificed to help create that opportunity.

The Iraq war is over. Thank our allies, and bring U.S. troops home.