Five years of war, nearly 4,000 American soldiers dead and 29,000 wounded, countless thousands more Iraqis killed and displaced, a $12 billion monthly cost to the U.S. Treasury, a trashed reputation in the world, a vicious, relentless Arab insurgency, a country in shambles, its elected government in paralysis and one hanged dictator. Does that about cover it? President Bush's war to liberate Iraq has produced little to be proud of, with one unassailable exception: the military men and women who have served and continue to serve in Iraq.

Anniversaries offer an opportunity for reflection. And an accounting of this misconceived, ill-planned and badly executed war should be made to underscore the imperative to withdraw our forces and let Iraqi officials contend with the internal and external conflicts that persist. Despite a precipitous reduction in violence because of the U.S. surge and billions in reconstruction aid, Iraq remains a shattered country with a dysfunctional government, albeit a democratically elected one. The U.S. can't sustain its efforts there - America's own military leaders have said so plainly - and perpetuating a war without end would cripple its ability to respond to other potential threats. There's no really "winning" this one, not without devastating consequences for U.S. soldiers, the military and the country at large, and that's despite Vice President Dick Cheney's professed certainty relayed to soldiers in Iraq yesterday: "We intend to complete the mission, so that another generation of Americans doesn't have to come back here and do it again."

But neither Mr. Bush nor Mr. Cheney will oversee the end of "the mission." That will fall to the next president, and the timetable will depend on who wins the election in November. But a concerted withdrawal has to begin soon. The success of the surge, achieved in large part because of the recruitment of Sunni tribesmen, can't last, and its architect, Gen. David Petraeus, the military commander in Iraq, must know this.

The Shiite-led Iraqi government has to find a way to engage and employ these militias in the fight for a greater Iraq, to integrate them into Iraq's fledgling military and police forces. This should be among the things General Petraeus talks about when he delivers a progress report to Congress next month.

Looking back over the war is instructive for the lessons we learn and the sacrifices acknowledged. But the focus now must be on a strategy to responsibly withdraw from Iraq and to assist its leaders in reasserting control of their country, the good and the bad.