I don't know what was more disturbing: a) that twice as many Americans were following actor Heath Ledger's death as were following news on the war (12 versus 6 percent); or, b) that a quarter of respondents thought the death toll was closer to 5,000 and yet the economy still trumped the war in Iraq as the number one issue in presidential primary exit polls.

(Speaking of presidential primaries, Senator McCain said he was worried that militants in Iraq might become more violent in an attempt to influence the November election. He claims that Iraqi militants/insurgents watch the U.S. news and follow the elections. Clearly they hadn't read this Pew poll.)

So as we approach our sixth year in Iraq and American ambivalence grows, hundreds of Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans gathered outside of Washington, D.C., to share their "eye witness accounts of the occupations" of Iraq and Afghanistan at an event put together by Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) called "Winter Soldier." The testimonies were sometimes graphic and occasionally alarming. Some combat veterans confessed to committing and/or witnessing war crimes that the Department of Defense promptly said were not "representative of U.S. conduct."

IVAW responded:

"These service members and veterans' testimonies are ultimately not about individual conduct, but about the nature of occupation. The military is being asked to win an occupation. The troops on the ground know this is an impossible task. Their commanders know this is an impossible task.

We're asking the Department of Defense to stop saying that it can achieve the impossible. We have a political problem that cannot be solved with a military solution. This is not a war that can be won. It is an occupation that can only be ended."

This statement raises an interesting question: is this what the "war on terror" is going to be? A series of occupations of countries with unfriendly governments and/or governments that appear unable to eradicate segments within their society that are hostile to the United States? First it was Afghanistan, then Iraq, and then talk about the "threat" posed by Iran. If the war on terror began in Afghanistan, continues in Iraq, and could include Iran, where will it end?

More importantly, is our policy in Iraq a microcosm of our approach to the war on terror in general? And if it is, how do we get Americans to pay attention again?