America's death toll in President Bush's Iraq war has passed 4,000, and the number of young American soldiers severely wounded is estimated as high as 60,000. There's no end in sight as the White House keeps pounding the war drum.

Incredibly, Bush told U.S. troops facing peril in the Middle East that their combat duty is "romantic" and "exciting." In a videoconference with a unit in Afghanistan, the president remarked:

"I must say, I'm a little envious. If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed. It must be exciting for you ... in some ways romantic, in some ways, you know, confronting danger. You're really making history, and thanks."

These comments show "that President Bush resides in a dream world," Slate columnist Fred Kaplan wrote, adding:

"Someone with such a jaunty vision of war - concocted from who knows what brew of Rudyard Kipling, John Wayne and sheer fantasy - has no business leading young men and women into real-life battle, no business serving as the armed forces' commander in chief.

"It only compounds the insult to reflect that Bush, when he was younger and not employed anywhere, passed up his chance for a romantic fling with danger in the jungles of Southeast Asia."

Families of casualties must be pained by Bush's "O, the adventure of it all" tone.

As Bush's Iraq war enters its sixth year, the entire world realizes that it was a terrible blunder based on untrue allegations. Yet the White House and Republican presidential frontrunner John McCain keep praising the war as though it were heroic. They seem out of touch with reality.

To underscore this strange situation, the Salon Web site reprinted two U.S. Senate speeches that were delivered on March 19, 2003, just hours before Bush unleashed high-tech U.S. weapons on defenseless Iraq.

In one of the talks, Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., said: "Today, I weep for my country." Byrd said the White House was plunging into an unnecessary war, showing contempt for other nations that urged negotiations. "We flaunt our superpower status with arrogance." He said the administration sought "to justify its fixation with war [by using] falsified documents and circumstantial evidence."

Byrd added: "There is no credible information to connect Saddam Hussein to 9 /11." He said the White House "directed all of the anger, fear and grief which emerged from the ashes of the twin towers" away from the real enemy and focused them falsely on Iraq.

In response to Byrd's accusation, McCain took the Senate floor and declared: "Contrary to the assertion of the senator from West Virginia, when the people of Iraq are liberated, we will again have written another chapter in the glorious history of the United States of America."

McCain added: "We will find there are still massive amounts of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq."

Five years later, with America's Iraq deaths past 4,000, history has proven that Byrd was correct - and McCain was utterly wrong. Yet McCain hasn't admitted that his warmongering was mistaken. And President Bush has the gall to claim that war is romantic. It's dismaying.

Incredibly, Bush told U.S. troops facing peril in the Middle East that their combat duty is "romantic" and "exciting." In a videoconference with a unit in Afghanistan, the president remarked:

"I must say, I'm a little envious. If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed. It must be exciting for you ... in some ways romantic, in some ways, you know, confronting danger. You're really making history, and thanks."

These comments show "that President Bush resides in a dream world," Slate columnist Fred Kaplan wrote, adding:

"Someone with such a jaunty vision of war - concocted from who knows what brew of Rudyard Kipling, John Wayne and sheer fantasy - has no business leading young men and women into real-life battle, no business serving as the armed forces' commander in chief.

"It only compounds the insult to reflect that Bush, when he was younger and not employed anywhere, passed up his chance for a romantic fling with danger in the jungles of Southeast Asia."

Families of casualties must be pained by Bush's "O, the adventure of it all" tone.

As Bush's Iraq war enters its sixth year, the entire world realizes that it was a terrible blunder based on untrue allegations. Yet the White House and Republican presidential frontrunner John McCain keep praising the war as though it were heroic. They seem out of touch with reality.

To underscore this strange situation, the Salon Web site reprinted two U.S. Senate speeches that were delivered on March 19, 2003, just hours before Bush unleashed high-tech U.S. weapons on defenseless Iraq.

In one of the talks, Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., said: "Today, I weep for my country." Byrd said the White House was plunging into an unnecessary war, showing contempt for other nations that urged negotiations. "We flaunt our superpower status with arrogance." He said the administration sought "to justify its fixation with war [by using] falsified documents and circumstantial evidence."

Byrd added: "There is no credible information to connect Saddam Hussein to 9 /11." He said the White House "directed all of the anger, fear and grief which emerged from the ashes of the twin towers" away from the real enemy and focused them falsely on Iraq.

In response to Byrd's accusation, McCain took the Senate floor and declared: "Contrary to the assertion of the senator from West Virginia, when the people of Iraq are liberated, we will again have written another chapter in the glorious history of the United States of America."

McCain added: "We will find there are still massive amounts of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq."

Five years later, with America's Iraq deaths past 4,000, history has proven that Byrd was correct - and McCain was utterly wrong. Yet McCain hasn't admitted that his warmongering was mistaken. And President Bush has the gall to claim that war is romantic. It's dismaying.