Reidblog [The Reid Report blog]

The Argus-Leader of Sioux-Falls, S.D. was on the scene Monday to report that Newt Gingrich, the former Republican Speaker of the House, had told students and faculty at the University of South Dakota that the United States should pull out of Iraq and leave only a small force there, just as it did post-war in Korea and Germany.

"It was an enormous mistake for us to try to occupy that country after June of 2003," Gingrich said during an informal question-and-answer session at the school, according to the newspaper. "We have to pull back, and we have to recognize it."

Gingrich was greeted with a standing ovation when he appeared at the school for the inaugural Edmund Burke Lecture, named after a man who is often called the father of modern conservatism.

"We are at one of those great intersections in history when we as a people are going to have to have a great conversation with each other," Gingrich said.