A little over four years ago, my brother and I were having dinner and drinking at a bar. There were a couple of attractive college girls drinking nearby, and we eventually bought a couple more beers and engaged in conversation. It turns out these two were Republican girls. And they swore up and down, looking at the world from their suburban standpoint, that they were scared. They were frightened of the bad guys. The terrorists were going to kill them, and it was going to happen soon. And so we (the United States) had a moral obligation to them (the girls and, I guess, the United States in general, which is a bit circular) to attack Iraq.

Needless to say, no burgeoning relationship formed between either of the girls and either of us. Arguing about going to war is not an advisable way of getting laid. But, luckily for us, we got a song idea out of it. You see, a little over four years ago, our band got together. And the only song we've recorded in a studio is "Republican Girls," the seeds of which started with this ill-fated, slightly drunken, wooing session.

The band is still together, and the war, which started a little over a month later, is still going on. For the most part, there are only four people responsible for the band going on this long. I'm thinking there are more people (over three hundred million) responsible for this war.

Now I know some of you would say you didn't have anything to do with going to war in Iraq. And some of you probably have a good point: but you still live here, just like me. We all have to take some responsibility for all of this going on as long as it does. That being said, there are some people who are more responsible.

There was a spirited discussion about how stupid everyone is about this war on the Sunday talk shows this morning. It was like those arguments we used to have in grade school before classes started. Something like, "You have a big butt." "No, you have a big butt and it leaks butt juice." "Oh yeah, well, your mom licks up your butt juice." And so on.

We're going to be here in another year talking about how this war has been going on for five years. And, even after electing a new president in 2008, we'll be here in two years talking about six years of this war.

There is no common ground. There is no mandate. There is no backing down. And this is the problem. When you prosecute a hazy, ideological war in black and whites, then you'll never agree on what's right or wrong. Who the enemy is and who isn't. If it's getting better or worse. When we should give up or not give up. No one wants to be wrong, no one thinks they are wrong and so we are all wrong.

We attacked a toothless, but loud, guard dog because that dog was hyped to be the worst dog in the world. Turns out he might not have even been a dog.

But this war is. It always has been. Even when we were initially taking over the country, it was a dog. False heroes. False toppling of statues. False declarations of victory and freedom. Public relations for the 21st century of death.

Tom Delay said recently that people who protest the war are not patriotic, echoing a point of view held by many of those in favor of towing this war rope. The question we should ask him is this: are we fighting for the views of one President, party and administration or for this whole country and its ideals? If it's the former, then democracy is unpatriotic.

I don't support this war. I never have. I never thought it was a good idea and was arguing against it before it started. You could even say my brother and I gave up some female companionship to get our point across. We're not heroes for this.

Maybe we don't need heroes right now. Maybe we just need people to wake up and smell the coffee. But then, not everyone likes coffee or the way it smells.

Matt Worley has no answers, no strategy, no alternative for fighting this war--except to stop fighting it.