So we’ve entered the 6th year of the war in Iraq.

And President Bush is still making delusional statements about how the world is better and the United States safer because of the Iraq invasion.

By what measure he draws that conclusion is a mystery.

The war has severely strained our military, and at a cost of $12 billion a month is helping to bleed the U.S. economy dry.

More than 33,000 American troops have been killed or wounded.

While the surge has helped curtail sectarian violence and U.S. casualties, al-Qaida has a presence in the country where before it had little to none.

The Iraqi government is inept and corrupt.

The centuries old rift between Sunni and Shiite continues to befuddle military commanders.

Five years after the U.S. invasion, Iraqi citizens still deal with a shortage of electricity that leaves them without air conditioning in summer and no heat in winter.

Iraqi schools are in shambles because so many teachers have fled the country.

The healthcare system is in shambles because the doctors went along with the teachers.

Iraqi citizens turn to the black market for water, propane, gas for their cars and groceries to feed their families.

After five years, 70 percent of Iraqi citizens say they want American troops to leave.

After five years, they want their country back.

After five years, the majority of American citizens say they too want troops to leave. They want their loved ones back.

Last week, Vice President Dick Cheney and Sen. John “My friends, I want to be your president” McCain met with Iraqi officials and pledged that the United States would hold fast to its promise of long-term military presence in Iraq.

No one in the Bush administration, or in the McCain camp, makes note of the fact that the U.S. invasion of Iraq is what drew al-Qaida to Iraq.

No one in the Bush administration, or in the McCain camps, makes note of the fact that Osama bin Laden continues to plot and scheme his next terrorist move.

Instead, as we enter the sixth year of the war in Iraq, we continue to hear shallow promises and political rhetoric from those who want us to believe that the right thing to do is to stay the course.

They have no shame.