It's time for troops to come home.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

Byline: Robert Steinback

Why shouldn't America just leave Iraq?

This has become the latest question that no true-blooded patriotic American must ask. It's in keeping with the emerging standard of contemporary debate: Discuss anything except the most essential issue of the day.

You might recall the previous question in this series: Why attack Iraq? The question touched upon our very character as a nation and our future as a moral force in the world. But the hawks deftly repositioned it as a litmus test of patriotism: Only a bad American would dare ask such a thing, they propounded.

Americans who pressed the question anyway were derided as heartless pacifists insensitive to the victims of Sept. 11, leftist traitors, vile liberals interested only in embarrassing President Bush, or selfish elitists unwilling to fight tyranny and spread democracy far and wide.

Lost amid the ridicule was the fact that the administration had presented no hard evidence in answer to the question, Why attack Iraq?

Weapons of mass destruction? None have been found. A threat to America? No evidence of it. A blow against terrorism? Terrorist attacks continue apace. A direct connection to the Sept. 11 criminals? After 20 months of cultivating that very impression, Bush now blithely claims his administration never suggested such a thing.