The Truth About Iraq

The Truth about Iraq

November 13, 2006

As violence rages in Iraq—159 people, including 35 members of Iraq's police force and 3 U.S. troops, were killed Sunday—President Bush meets with the Iraq Study Group (ISG) today, an independent panel reexamining the administration's Iraq policy. The Washington Post reports that James Baker, former secretary of state and co-chairman of the ISG has been testing the waters for some time to determine how much change in Iraq policy will be tolerated by the White House." Hopefully, that report is in error. For too long President Bush and the White House have only been listening to people who tell them what they want to hear. Baker and the rest of the ISG have an obligation to tell the administration and the public what, in their view, is the best course of action for the country. Early reports indicate that the ISG may recommend "withdrawing American troops in phases."

• New leaders in Congress are calling for strategic redeployment. Yesterday, Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), who will become chairman of the Senate Armed Service Committee next year, declared his support for a "phased withdrawal" of U.S. troops, beginning early next year. Levin's call was echoed by incoming Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and incoming Foreign Relations Committee chairman, Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE). The new leaders will introduce a resolution calling for phased withdrawal, what White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten called "a very bad idea." The Center for American Progress first proposed a plan for strategic redeployment of U.S. troops out of Iraq last September. Read an updated version of the plan here.
  
  

• Arguments against changing the course ring hollow. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and others suggest that if U.S. forces were to redeploy it would lead to "chaos." How would he describe what's happening in Iraq now? The morgues in Baghdad are overflowing. In October, "about 1,600 bodies were turned in at the Baghdad central morgue." At other morgues bodies are being turned away because there isn't "enough cold storage" to accommodate them. Although estimating civilian casualties is difficult, "The Iraqi health minister last week put civilian deaths over the entire 44 months since the U.S. invasion at about 150,000—close to the U.N. figure and about three times the previously accepted estimates of 45,000 to 50,000." Strategic redeployment provides the best opportunity to end the chaos by: 1) providing an incentive for Iraqis to move beyond sectarian disputes and take responsibility for their own security, and 2) eliminating a key target and source of motivation for insurgents, i.e., U.S. troops.
  
  

• Congress must take steps to end the waste and corruption in Iraq. As things deteriorate in Iraq, new Congressional leaders are seeking to restore some modicum of accountability. This year, a provision "slipped into a huge military authorization bill" by administration allies who "set a termination date for...the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction." The New York Times reports, "The agency’s findings have consistently undermined Bush administration claims of widespread success in the reconstruction of Iraq." New congressional leaders "will press new legislation next week to restore the power of a federal agency in charge of ferreting out waste and corruption in Iraq and greatly increase its investigative reach."