What We Need to Do In Iraq

January 18, 2006

The Iraq War is no longer a military one though it seems so because our soldiers die every every week. The mere presence of our troops is infuriating to even the most ardent supporters of the United States. Winning militarily is impossible because the realistic solution is political because you cannot impose democracy by military force.

Once we pragmatically accept this is not a military war, we need enable Iraq to transition to a stable government acceptable to its citizens. We must also accept that the new Iraq will not be inevitably democratic as we would like.

For example, in the latest election, secular Shiite Ahmad Chalabi unexpectedly received less than one percent of the vote though he was Bush's man in Iraq.   This illustrates the direction the Iraqis are taking. Iraq will become a conservative religious state and its religion will be Islam.  Religion brings out the best and worst and in our unpleasant situation it will be the worst.  There are many factions within Islam as with Christianity and every group will want a say in the government and some will want to control the government for itself.

We must prevent a civil war and Iraq is close to it.

As part of the political solution, we must prove the recent elections have been fair and the votes counted accurately. This will give legitimacy to the election, help calm emotions and lead to compromises. This is Iraq's only hope for some semblance of democracy.

As to disengagement of our forces in Iraq; the Iraqi security forces must take over and they must be willing and able to do what we have been doing.  Right now, that is not the case. Bush has been firmly saying the past year we were making progress but this has been fiction and now we are more than a year behind. He and his generals refused to confront this reality even though the lives of our soldiers depended on it.

We must expect honesty and demand our officials clearly state the problems and develop solutions. 

Not only do the Iraqis need training but so do our soldiers. They must be trained to adapt to changing war conditions and vulnerabilities. We must also fill critical positions currently unfilled: intelligence gatherers, interpreters, bomb demolition and Special Forces. 

We have called and recalled our armed services members for duty in Iraq and this cannot go on indefinitely.  Our troop pull out will depend on our military's ability to keep deployment at safe levels. This will not be easy.  It has been nearly three years and our military system has been taxed, stretched thin and is now at critical mass. We cannot go on without a draft.  And if a draft is not an option, then leaving Iraq this year is the only option.

Bush wants us to win but doesn’t say how and when that would be achieved. This is unacceptable. He must define what he means by ” total victory in Iraq”. If it is to leave the country politically stable, then that is probably attainable, but if he means establishing an American style democracy, then we are doomed to deadly failure.

Finally, Bush and his people must always tell the truth and not lie like they did before the war.  This will be the greatest challenge. 

Though the Administration continues to claim they did not lie about Iraq, we all know they did. They do not like it when their words are thrown back at them so here is another well deserved “word slap” for getting the U.S. involved in the first place: 

"Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction."     Dick Cheney, August 26, 2002

"[He] has indeed stepped up his capacity to produce and deliver biological weapons. . . . He has reconstituted his nuclear program to develop a nuclear weapon."     Dick Cheney, September 8, 2002

"We have sources that tell us that Saddam Hussein recently authorized Iraqi field commanders to use chemical weapons—the very weapons the dictator tells us he does not have."     George Bush, February 6, 2003

"We believe he has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons.”      Dick Cheney, March 16, 2003 (three days before the start of the U.S. invasion)

"Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised."     George Bush, March 17, 2003 (two days before the invasion)

"We know where they [the weapons] are. They are in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad."     Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, March 30, 2003 (11 days after the war began)