Subject: Bring Them Home - LA Times Editorial: Iraqis need political reconciliation, not occupation; and U.S. troops shouldn't referee a civil war. WHATEVER THE future holds, the United States has not "lost" and cannot "lose" Iraq. It was never ours in the first place. …After four years of war, more than $350 billion spent and 3,363 U.S. soldiers killed and 24,310 wounded … The U.S. military presence — opposed by more than three-quarters of Iraqis — inflames terrorism and delays what should be the primary and most pressing goal: meaningful reconciliation among the Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds. This newspaper reluctantly endorsed the U.S. troop surge as the last, best hope for stabilizing conditions so that the elected Iraqi government could assume full responsibility for its affairs. But we also warned that the troops should not be used to referee a civil war. That, regrettably, is what has happened. Better to begin planning a careful, strategic withdrawal from Iraq now, based on the strategies laid out by the Iraq Study Group, than allow for the 2008 campaign season to create a precipitous pullout. … there is no reason to believe that the surge will help bring about an end to what is, in fact, a multifaceted civil war. … as long as civil war rages in Iraq, even the post-surge force of 160,000 troops cannot achieve more than marginal progress. The Bush administration should convene national peace and reconciliation talks as early as possible — say June 1. …But an important element needs to be taken off the table: American blood. The U.S. should immediately declare its intention to begin a gradual troop drawdown, starting no later than the fall. … Iraqi political compromise is more likely to come when Washington is no longer backing the stronger (Shiite) party. U.S. troops could then be repositioned to better wage the long-term struggle against Islamic extremism. The question is how best to manage the risks. First, there is the grim prospect of a bloodbath in Iraq. But the best way to forestall slaughter is political reconciliation, not military occupation. Second is the worry that Al Qaeda will establish a beachhead in Al Anbar. Yet Iraqis have already turned against the foreign fighters. Third, the neighbors may meddle. Alarmists fear an Iranian proxy state in Baghdad; southern Iraq is already allied with Tehran. But Iraq's neighbors are more likely to be helpful once withdrawal is assured, and instability is not in their interests, especially without a U.S. occupier to bleed. … the longer we delay planning for the inevitable, the worse the outcome is likely to be. The time has come to leave.