I support our troops. I oppose this war. To some, this is an inherently contradictory claim. How can someone support America’s troops while at the same time oppose the reason they fight? It’s a fair question.

I could go through a laundry list of points for how it’s possible to support those who wear our nation’s uniform even if we don’t support the reason they fight. Instead I’m simply going to ask you to take my word for it when I say that I support those in America’s armed forces who are fighting far from home. The only message I want them to hear from those of us sitting on the sidelines is thanks and come back safely knowing you’ve served your country with integrity, character, hope and an excellence not often seen in military history. Our nation will forever be in your debt.

Let me be the first to say I was wrong about Iraq. It was a mistake. Leading up to the war, I remember having conflicting feelings about the policy. Like many liberal politicians, I was still caught up in the euphoria of national unity and bipartisan efforts to make our country safe. Plus, the administration made a powerful argument about the danger of weapons of mass destruction in the hands of a dictator like Saddam Hussein with connections to al-Qaida. Ultimately, I supported our actions in Iraq because I too feared a mushroom cloud in the United States and felt that we could succeed in building a better world through democratization.

Though I’ve been critical since the beginning of how George W. Bush took us to war, I didn’t really change my convictions that everything will turn out OK. It was only recently that I finally realized my convictions were based more on my love of country and not reality.

I felt from the beginning that the road to Baghdad must go through the United Nations; the reality is Kofi Annan is right in saying that the war is “illegal” from an international law perspective.

I believed weapons of mass destruction existed in Iraq; the reality is that the U.N. inspectors were right about the weapons program in Iraq and the rest of us were wrong.

To live in fear of a mushroom cloud distorts what should have been better judgment on my part leading up to the war. There certainly are much more effective ways of defending against an actual nuclear weapon finding its way into the United States — inspecting more crates and building powerful Geiger counters are two better ways than invading Iraq while allowing North Korea and Iran to accelerate their nuclear weapons programs.

The real struggle of being an American during a time when our nation is at war is not whether we supported the war or opposed it in the beginning. It is whether or not we face the realities of today and believe in the hope of tomorrow.

Ultimately, my worst fear is that America has been led to the edge of a cliff by President Bush, and that this November will be our last chance to change course and head to greener, more secure pastures.

Worse is the fact that I didn’t do anything to try and stop us from going down this path. So I admit that I’ve committed what can be termed as a flip-flop, but I view it as a flip-flop worth making. Changing course to avoid going over a disastrous fall, in my opinion, is not a sign of weakness and is hardly indecisive.

It is clear that whoever wins this election must admit to the challenges our nation faces instead of attacking those that do for sending “mixed-signals” the way President Bush has done, which ironically includes attacking fellow Republicans such as John McCain and Chuck Hagel. The person I trust to correct the mistake is not the president who says we must “stay the course” against terrorist.

I trust John Kerry; he is already talking about the reality of the challenge and ways he wants to lead our country to a better future.