I never believed in Hell before, but it is clear that it does indeed exist, and they call it Iraq.

The latest escalation in bloodshed began with a two-hour siege Thursday by Sunni gunmen on the Ministry of Health; then suspected Sunni insurgents detonated a series of bombs in crowded places in Sadr City and other Shi'ite neighborhoods that killed more than 160 people. Shi'ite militiamen retaliated by firing mortars at mosques and other targets in neighboring Sunni suburbs. And tensions were further inflamed by an incident in which U.S. troops, searching in Sadr City for a kidnapped American soldier, fired on a van that refused to slow down in response to a signal, killing four civilians. The incident, which highlighted the ongoing U.S. campaign against elements of Sadr's army who they see as responsible for much of the sectarian violence, makes life even more difficult for Maliki.

There is not a day that goes by where the violence in Iraq does not seem to have escalated yet again. I usually do not see the point in posting about it because it almost does not seem like news anymore. But the fact is that it is so extreme right now that it may be the most dangerous place on this planet. More dangerous, even, then Darfur.

But this situation is the fault of the United States. And we are honor bound to ease the danger in some way. We have to fix this. However the way forward to making this better is beyond confusing. I have no idea what would diffuse the danger in this region, but I cannot help but believe that our presence is the catalyst right now. I know the violence will increase when the American troops leave but I also believe that it will begin to lessen as time goes by. What Iraq will ultimately look like I cannot predict, but humans are biologically driven to want to bring order to chaos. Therefore I think the Iraqis will ultimately make their world better.

So we must swallow our pride and admit we fucked up and just get our boys out of the way until the Iraqis can somehow clean up the mess that we created.

America will suffer for this mistake in the future, no matter what we do about it right now.