(Washington, D.C.)  Four years ago in Bahgdad's Firdos Square, the statue of Saddam Hussein was toppled by a Marine Corps armored recovery vehicle as an arguably staged crowd of Iraqis cheered.  The event symbolized the fall of Baghdad.   

On May 2, 2003, nearly a month after the toppling of the Iraqi monument, President George W. Bush stood on the deck of the U.S.S. Lincoln and declared, "My fellow Americans, major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed."

"Sadly, our Republican president was wrong on March 19, 2003 when he chose to initiate force against Iraq, he was wrong again months later as he arrogantly strode onto the deck of a waiting aircraft carrier to declare victory, and he remains wrong today," stated Shane Cory executive director of the Libertarian Party.  "The cost of these continued mistakes and Bush's stubborn insistence to 'stay the course' is the lives of over 3,200 American troops, and the injuries of tens of thousands more. The impact from this dark time in American and world history will resonate throughout time."

Despite the ever increasing violence in Iraq, whose factions have devolved into civil war, the Bush administration, emboldened by the lack of political courage shown by the Democrats, continues to send even more troops into the combat arena in a so-called troop surge.