and that's...the way it is.

It was in 1968, when CBS Anchorman Walter Cronkite did a tour of Vietnam, and came back highly critical of that war.

His pronouncement that the Vietnam War was unwinnable led to such a shift in public opinion against the war that President Lyndon Johnson said, "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost America."

The 90-year-old Cronkite was in San Jose on Friday addressing the Commonwealth Club. In an exclusive interview with CBS 5, he weighed in on the situation in Iraq.

"We should have gotten out a long time ago. This is a mistake, this entire war there, it's a disaster. And the earlier we get out the better," Cronkite said. "It's a terrible disaster. Look at the loss of lives of our young Americans there and those who have been maimed for life, for what purpose? No purpose we can define."

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