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The Battle for Iraq
October 20, 2006
Earlier this week, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman wrote that "what we're seeing" in Iraq "seems like the jihadist equivalent of the Tet Offensive" in Vietnam. (The 1968 Tet Offensive was "widely credited with eroding support for President Johnson" and turning the American public against the war.) Later that day, President Bush said Friedman "could be right" about the analogy. As late as June 2006, Bush rejected comparisons between Iraq and Vietnam, saying in April 2004, "I think the analogy is false.” Nevertheless, 64 percent of Americans disapprove of his handling of the situation, and more voices are calling for change. Britain's "most senior military officer" said recently "get ourselves out sometime soon, because our presence exacerbates the security problems." American Progress has a plan to change course redeploy our troops.
- The violence in Baghdad continues to get worse. Gen. William Caldwell, the military's chief spokesman in Iraq, called the 22 percent spike in attacks over the past three weeks "disheartening," and said the U.S. would be "working closely with the government of Iraq to determine how to best refocus our efforts." "In the void forged by the sectarian tensions gripping Baghdad, militias are further splintering into smaller, more radicalized cells, signifying a new and potentially more volatile phase in the struggle for the capital." Elsewhere in Iraq, our troops are "still forced to play a game of whack-a-mole with the insurgency and militias, because it cannot dominate the country enough to secure every city and hamlet." Despite the fact that the U.S. military "has not conducted any major operations" in October, this month is on track to be the third-deadliest of the war for our troops.
- The Iraqi infrastructure is broken. Three years ago, Bush promised to help Iraq "restore basic services, such as electricity and water, and to build new schools, roads, and medical clinics. This effort is essential to the stability of those nations, and therefore, to our own security." He has not kept his promise to the Iraqi people. Daily electricity levels have hit their lowest point since the U.S. invasion. (Only 2.4 hours of electricity per day, compared to an average of 16-24 hours of electricity before the U.S. invasion.) Reconstruction funds "are drying up" and builders are "pulling out," "leaving completed projects and unfulfilled plans in the hands of an Iraqi government unprepared to manage either."
- Conservatives are losing faith in the administration’s conducting of the war. Marine Gen. Peter Pace "defended the leadership" of Donald Rumsfeld, saying "it is inspired by God." Others are not so convinced. Sen. Chuck Hagel said, "We need to find a new strategy, a way out of Iraq, because the entire Middle East...is more combustible than it’s been probably since 1948, and more dangerous, and we’re in the middle of it." "The Iraq situation is not winnable in any real sense of the word 'winnable,'" said Richard Haass, the former State Department chief of policy planning operations. "The Iraq war was a mistake," the conservative Los Angeles Times columnist Jonah Goldberg added. "I would hope that members of the administration are willing to learn from past mistakes," Sen. John Sununu (R-NH) said, "and choose a different path that would allow us to meet our objectives."
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