FIRST MISTAKE?

Obviously, the Democrats won both houses of Congress at least party -- and maybe entirely -- on the turmoil and fiasco that is Iraq. I agree with the sentiment that the war has been waged poorly and I go farther to say that the National Security team that ran it was dysfunctional. Thankfully Rumsfeld was fired; he was the biggest danger in the equation.

As for how the newly-minted majority may address the problem of Iraq remains to be reported. But there are a few stories out there that speculate, based on prominent Democrats' comments, on what is to come:

"The American people have spoken. They want an honorable solution in Iraq. They want to bring the troops home responsibly and not leave chaos behind," said [Sen. Joe] Biden, who's in line to become chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

This is a pretty germane comment, and something I do not disagree with. But what other leading Democratic voices are saying troubles me.

First stop next year will be legislation calling for an undetermined number of troops to come home immediately.

Withdrawal from Iraq, even just a partial one, is the wrong move, in my opinion. I think what is needed is to send more troops to Iraq. Sending too few was the biggest sin of former Secy. Rumsfeld's many mistakes and every price we pay in Iraq today is directly related to Rumsfeld's disdain for the Powell Doctrine of overwhelming force. Quelling the violence in Iraq needs to happen before any political progress can be made in Baghdad.

I am sensitive to Iraqis seeing the American presence as an occupying force and what they rail against in their bloody streets. But withdrawing troops will only create a vacuum in which violence will only escalate to even more alarming rates. The militant Sunnis are not only fighting against the Americans who issued the idiotic de-Baathification policy putting them out of work, but also at having the trappings of minority status, something they are just not used to after strongarming the Shiites and Kurds for decades.

I hope the Baker-Hamilton report will push this option for the short-term when it is released in December.