"I don't know if people realize the sacrifice that's been made by thousands of families," Phil Donahue said to Sharmini Peries of The Real News in this interview about the Iraq war and the lives it's ruining -- namely the veterans who return home so physically injured they will never lead normal lives again.

"There are thousands of families where these dramas are taking place, behind closed doors, and people never see it," he added. "And there are still people beating drums for this war, and these are the same people who would send other people's kids to go fight it."

He ends the interview with a plea to Senatar John McCain, which I think is worth printing here for emphasis:

"Senator McCain, what does 'win' mean? And how long shall we take to win? And are you willing to sacrifice more people in this war? In other words, we should send more soldiers to war, to die, because we've already sent soldiers to war to die? Stop this, Senator McCain. Iraq was never a threat to us. Iraq didn't have weapons of mass destruction. Iraq didn't knock down the towers, senator! They didn't knock down the towers. It was our invasion that brought Al Queda into Iraq. Now let's see that. Let's be brave. Let's remember all those people who are saying, 'Don't send bombs to kill innocent people to avenge the deaths of my innocent loved ones.' Those are the true Americans."