The opportunity to make a clear moral choice passed on March 20, 2003, when the invasion of Iraq began.

Then, the U.S. and its coalition of the willing attacked a nation that had not attacked us, was scant strategic threat to the world, and was no more evil that some regimes we allow to live in peace, including North Korea, Sudan and Zimbabwe.

We justified the invasion of Iraq by mounting fallacious claims that Saddam Hussein was colluding with al Qaeda and storing weapons of mass destruction.

And we declared our intention to bring freedom and democracy to Iraq despite the fact that we had no plan to bring it about and apparently no clue that our invasion might lead to a massive insurrection and a bitter civil war between Sunnis and Shiites.

From the very beginning of this tragic episode, we have been morally responsible for the chaos and slaughter in Iraq. There is no choice we can make now that will remove this stain from our national soul. Whether we remove our troops from Iraq tomorrow or ask them to stay until order is restored, the moral damage has already been done.

Given this history, though, it seems to me that our better option is to get out of Iraq now lest our continued presence inspire the warring factions to greater violence.

In the meantime, I can only pray that the stain on our national soul will serve as a marker to guide our moral decision-making in the future.

The triumvirate off this war – Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld – will have to bear the judgment of history that their hubris led to self-deception, bad decisions and incalculable tragedy.

Let’s get out of Iraq now before we do any more damage.

But let us not forget that our actions in Iraq have wreaked a moral havoc that we can never erase. And let us vow in the depth of our souls that it will never happen again.