http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/02/AR2006010200974.html

I am outraged at what I see as the cause of his death. For nearly
three years, the Bush administration has pursued a policy that makes
our troops sitting ducks. While Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that our policy is to
"clear, hold and build" Iraqi towns, there aren't enough troops to do
that.

In our last conversation, Augie complained that the cost in lives to
clear insurgents was "less and less worth it," because Marines have to
keep coming back to clear the same places. Marine commanders in the
field say the same thing. Without sufficient troops, they can't hold
the towns. Augie was killed on his fifth mission to clear Haditha....

Two painful questions remain for all of us. Are the lives of Americans
being killed in Iraq wasted? Are they dying in vain? President Bush
says those who criticize staying the course are not honoring the dead.
That is twisted logic: honor the fallen by killing another 2,000
troops in a broken policy?...

Though it hurts, I believe that his death -- and that of the other
Americans who have died in Iraq -- was a waste. They were wasted in a
belief that democracy would grow simply by removing a dictator -- a
careless misunderstanding of what democracy requires. They were wasted
by not sending enough troops to do the job needed in the resulting
occupation -- a careless disregard for professional military counsel.

But their deaths will not be in vain if Americans stop hiding behind
flag-draped hero masks and stop whispering their opposition to this
war. Until then, the lives of other sons, daughters, husbands, wives,
fathers and mothers may be wasted as well.

This is very painful to acknowledge, and I have to live with it. So
does President Bush.