A historic and powerful editorial in yesterday’s New York Times called for the immediate withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. This editorial may go down as one of the paper’s most important and principled. In a careful and deliberate manner, the editors outlined how America should begin the process of a sane and safe withdrawal. Considering the paper’s difficulty during the ramp up to war, this editorial marks a momentous turning point.

The editorial starts off with saying:

It is time for the United States to leave Iraq, without any more delay than the Pentagon needs to organize an orderly exit.

And continues:

Like many Americans, we have put off that conclusion, waiting for a sign that President Bush was seriously trying to dig the United States out of the disaster he created by invading Iraq without sufficient cause, in the face of global opposition, and without a plan to stabilize the country afterward.

At first, we believed that after destroying Iraq’s government, army, police and economic structures, the United States was obliged to try to accomplish some of the goals Mr. Bush claimed to be pursuing, chiefly building a stable, unified Iraq. When it became clear that the president had neither the vision nor the means to do that, we argued against setting a withdrawal date while there was still some chance to mitigate the chaos that would most likely follow.

While Mr. Bush scorns deadlines, he kept promising breakthroughs — after elections, after a constitution, after sending in thousands more troops. But those milestones came and went without any progress toward a stable, democratic Iraq or a path for withdrawal. It is frighteningly clear that Mr. Bush’s plan is to stay the course as long as he is president and dump the mess on his successor. Whatever his cause was, it is lost.

And the editorial ends with:

President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have used demagoguery and fear to quell Americans’ demands for an end to this war. They say withdrawing will create bloodshed and chaos and encourage terrorists. Actually, all of that has already happened — the result of this unnecessary invasion and the incompetent management of this war.

This country faces a choice. We can go on allowing Mr. Bush to drag out this war without end or purpose. Or we can insist that American troops are withdrawn as quickly and safely as we can manage — with as much effort as possible to stop the chaos from spreading.

I strongly urge all of you to read this New York Times editorial. For anyone who feels that now is not the time to leave, it’s a must read.