I got a phone call from Susan Sarandon just before the primaries (date some women once and they never leave you alone) and I was disappointed to find it was just a recording. Turns out she was endorsing Jonathan Tasini over Hillary Clinton in the US Senate race because Hillary had supported the invasion of Iraq and still did not want to bring the soldiers home — unlike Tasini who was ready to start loading the troop transports in Baghdad tomorrow.

I have a lot of reasons to distrust Hillary — she seems only too willing to fudge or pull a complete reversal on any number of positions, from a woman’s right to choose to a consumer’s right to declare bankruptcy, if it’s politically expedient or there is money for her future presidential race involved. And if nominated she will surely cost us the election again, given the Satan-like associations she has for many — though the simple fact that so many hate her that she is doomed from the start does not seem to be enough to stop her from becoming her party’s first presidential nominee, an honor she doubtless thinks of as her birthright.

But though I can’t forgive her and the rest of the Senate their decision to give Bush a blank check going into Iraq, I believe she sincerely thought Saddam posed some kind of global risk. And as wrong as she and Colin Powell and Tony Blair and millions of others were on that score, and as much as I hope the Vulcans who drove this bus are punished in international courts if not eternal hellfire for their pursuit of this policy, I don’t see how we can just pull out of Iraq. What do we say to the people whose nation we have destroyed? “Sorry about that”? Even if the idea of dividing Iraq into three sovereign states (Sunni, Shi’ite and Kurd) is a non-starter as many Iraq-watchers believe, the US has no choice but to stick around and do some nation rebuilding.

We cannot magically turn our soldiers into peace-keeping troops because there is no peace to keep. We cannot unscrew this pooch, even once the Vulcans are out of power. (And as they head for the exits, look for more blame to be shifted to past presidents, the press, anyone but the people who got us into this mess.) But we cannot walk away from a disaster of our creating. We have to reinvent our role in this war. Start by restoring electricity.

So sorry Susan et al. This position puts me deeply in the purple category in this very blue city — but I always hated that division anyway. I lost a lot of friends on the left coast since 9.11, specifically in the uber-blue Bay Area, people so blue they think it’s unfair to the other colors to characterize blue as liberal or Democratic, people who want to show solidarity with colors on the other end of the spectrum — and who decided to make blue and red primary colors, anyway? Periwinke has rights, too. These were people who thought even going after Al Qaeda was unfair. (A typical comment before the Iraq war: “Who is this majority in the polls who support this invasion? I don’t know a single person who is for the war!” Having not been outside of Alameda, Marin or SF county in 20 years…)

So don’t look for me at the peace rally, shouting “Troops out now!” I’m going to take my purple crayon and write right here.