Negotiate a US exit from Iraq

The United Nations must lead the effort to broker an orderly withdrawal.

from the June 14, 2007 edition

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These tasks form the main challenge for America in the months ahead. The longer the American public and US leaders postpone dealing with them, the higher will mount the casualty toll in Iraq – among both Iraqis and US troops – along with the risks the Iraqi caldron poses to regional and world stability.

Because the Monitor is ending its regular columns, today's essay is my last as a Monitor columnist – a post I've held for 17 years.

I have been proud to write for a paper guided by high standards, strong values, and a desire to understand all the nations of the world. And I have been grateful for the opportunity to contribute my expertise here.

Mine was one of the few voices in mainstream media that seriously questioned the grounds on which the Bush administration took the US into the war in Iraq and that warned strongly and consistently that this war would be disastrous.

While my work may well appear in the Monitor in the future, I invite you to keep up with my writing at www.justworldnews.org.

• Helena Cobban is a Friend in Washington for the Friends Committee on National Legislation. The views expressed here are her own.

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