I was down South recently, and one day played golf with a couple of corporate lawyers from Greenville, S.C. After learning that I was a newspaper editor, one fellow was quick to ask if I was against the war in my writing.

Where do I begin?

But the implication, of course, was that perhaps I was another johnny-come-lately to the antiwar side, having become disillusioned over time with the mission in Iraq and the sectarian violence.

I pointed out that I had argued against the war since before it started; in fact, several months before the bombs started falling, because we all knew it was coming.

The lawyer was one of the millions of Americans who had believed their president's lies and their government's propaganda about Iraq in the weeks and months leading up to the war. You can't blame them for being duped. After all, he's our president and it's our government.

And he was one of the millions of Americans who had figured, like the president, that the war would be over quickly, that we'd depose Saddam, subdue his military and that the Iraqis would live happily ever after under a new pro-U.S. government.

That was four years ago.

Just this week, more than 15 more American soldiers were killed in a roadside attack.

We've sent a surge of troops to quell the violence, but with little success, based on the numbers of people still being blown up or executed on a daily basis. It's clear the violence will not end until there is hardly anybody left to fight or die in a civil war our government blindly did not foresee.

By last November, even the red states had seen enough. They sent lawmakers to the House and Senate to put a stop to the war and bring the troops home.

Trying to fulfill their ballot-box mandate, senators and congressmen are connecting troop-withdrawal dates to the president's latest requests for billions of dollars more for the Iraq and Afghan wars.

The reconciled Senate and House bill, facing a swift veto next week as soon as Bush gets it, would begin withdrawing troops by Oct. 1 and complete the job by next April. The president is opposed to any funding measure connected to a timetable and it's not likely the House or Senate would have the votes to override.

But it will be ironic if the president gets the bills Tuesday, four years to the day that he stood on the deck of an aircraft carrier in front of a "mission accomplished'' banner and declared major combat over in Iraq.

How off the mark can a commander-in-chief be? Now you know.

That southern lawyer also asked if I'd been knocking the president. I was sadly able to say that I had been criticizing him since before he lost the 2000 election and took office. I had said from the start that he would be an embarrassment and lower the bar of the presidency.

But what can we do now? Impeach him and Cheney, too, and bog the nation down with just 20 months left in their administration? Certainly, the circumstances surrounding the start of the war should make it an impeachable offense.

Some, such as Rep. Dennis Kucinich, have called for only Cheney to be impeached, figuring he's the brains (what?) behind the president. No, it's too late now, though millions of voters (3 of 5, polls show) are saying, "if we knew then what we know now "

We need to focus on figuring out a way to get the troops home and getting through the remainder of the Bush presidency with the fewest deaths, the least damage to our interests abroad and to the people and the environment at home.

The Bushies still refuse to admit that the war was wrong and that there's no legitimate reason to keep our men and women in danger in Iraq. And now they're even playing the al-Qaida card, saying we can't leave because Iraq's full of terrorists.

It's so absurd. Before we invaded, there were no al-Qaida terrorists in Iraq. And now it's full of them? If only we had concentrated on the real war, the one against international terrorism, how different, how much safer and more peaceful, our nation and the world would be today.

With a Bush veto poised to strike, however, it's unclear how soon we can get the troops home as politicians in Washington negotiate and compromise over the life and death of Americans and Iraqis.

Cary Brunswick is managing editor of The Daily Star and can be reached at 432-2047 ext. 217 or cary@thedailystar.com.