The Bully Pulpit

The war in Iraq on Monday received the dubious distinction of having killed 4,000 American soldiers.

Add to that the roughly 85,000 civilians that died, according to estimates by this Web site, and the real magnitude of this mistake becomes clear.

Any soldier dying is a tragedy, but tens of thousands of civilians who had no choice in the matter? That's beyond tragedy, beyond apology, but somehow I'm still sorry.

I wonder if our country can ever live this down.