Ironically, as the Pentagon proposed to close 33 military bases in the United States, including four in Georgia, Congress passed a spending bill for the Iraq war that included half a billion dollars for permanent military bases and another half billion for building the world’s largest embassy on Iraq’s soil.

Like other Americans, Floridians might want to ask their elected representatives to explain where we’re headed in Iraq. The Iraq war has been poorly planned and badly executed from the start. And the costs and consequences have been devastating.

President George W. Bush has now asked Congress and the U.S. taxpayers for the fourth time in two years for more money to fight the Iraq War. This time the request is for $82 billion, the highest amount asked for so far. But more striking than the dollar amount is that Mr. Bush, for the fourth time, has failed to present a strategy for success in Iraq.

Continuing to fund these big-ticket systems is one reason the Army is still scrambling to provide adequate body armor and well-protected Humvees to our troops in Iraq.

Remember when we used to talk about how the war in Iraq was about oil?

Even as the Bush administration tries to assure Americans that the war in Iraq can still be won, a question hovers in the air like a ghost, even if it is not being explicitly debated: Is Iraq another Vietnam — a war the U.S. is doomed to lose?

The elections in Iraq are shaping up to be another “Bring ’em on” moment.

Elections in Iraq are only days away, and it’s clear that Iraq’s voters aren’t ready for them.