This Sunday, Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer had an important message for "the candidates, and the rest of us" this primary season.

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Schieffer: We interrupt American politics to ask this question: Does anyone remember the war in Iraq? [...]

Until John McCain accused Mitt Romney yesterday of favoring a timetable for withdrawing American forces there, a charge Romney vehemently denies, Republicans hardly mentioned the war.

That would force them to mention George Bush and frankly, they'd rather talk about Ronald Reagan.

Nor do Democrats bring it up. The surge of troops the President sent there last year reduced the violence and that raises questions about the Democrats' previous demands for an immediate American drawdown.

Yet, the war goes on. Last week, 38 Iraqis died and hundreds were injured as a massive bomb went off in the town of Mosul. The Iraqi president promised to "do something," neglecting to mention he had been urged to "do something" in Mosul for months BEFORE the bomb went off.

For the record: While the Iraqis have been trying to get their act together, the war has claimed 4,094 American military and civilian lives and left more than 29,000 wounded.

Iraq may be off the front pages, but it is not over. The candidates and the rest of us would do well to remember that. ... (more)