Politics and Press

They Don’t Know What They’re Doing

I watched General Zinni on Meet The Press yesterday. He was plugging a book and explaining that the Bush Administration doesn’t have a clue about what it did wrong in Iraq and what is happening there now. He cited General Sheehan as still another top military mind who is bewildered by the Bush policy [or whatever it is]. General Sheehan was approached in the past few weeks by Bush to become Iraq War Czar [don’t you love it], but he wouldn’t even begin to consider the notion.
When Bush announced his Iraq “surge” a couple of months ago, it was so apparently dumb that I thought I must be missing something. I am no military expert certainly, so I guessed that there may be some kernal of validity to the surge notion. After all, Bush persuaded General Petraeus to lead the effort and Petraeus seems to be well-regarded. But, it turns out, Petraeus must simply be a good, follow-the-directives-of-the-Commander-in-Chief type of general because Iraq is, almost incredibly, sinking deeper into the morass despite his best efforts. The increased US presence in Baghdad neighborhoods has fomented greater opposition and violence - a logical and predictable result.
Most recently, Al-Sadr has essentially declared war on the US. Al-Sadr has gone underground since Bush declared we were going to be “surging.” Only last week, he directed a massive anti-US rally seeking the removal of US troops. He may not be highly respected in the West, but Al-Sadr is the apparent leader of many Shiites in Iraq. Just yesterday, he ordered six Iraqi cabinet ministers loyal to him to withdraw from the government because of the government’s failure to endorse a US withdrawal timetable. The Democratic leadership in the US still supports a timetable for withdrawal [though that support may be weakening]. Bush, of course, is adamant in his opposition to a timetable - as is the current Iraqi government.
Zinni says there is no quick fix in Iraq and that a timetable is not the way to go. He says we need to stay for 5,6, or more years. But that’s the “general” in him speaking. An alternative is to get the hell out now. Bow to the will of the majority of Iraqis and get the hell out now. Will there be continuing “hostilities”? Yes. Can it get much worse than it is with the US in there? Possibly, but it is very, very bad there now - surge or no surge. With the US no longer a target [principally in the form of road-side bombs and sniper attacks], the hostilities may begin to wind down. The years of separation and hatred between the Sunnis and Shiites could support years of killing. But without the US in Iraq, the Iraqis will have less of an excuse to continue fighting. They could even direct their attention to the other foreigners in their midst, such as Al-Qaeda, and put them down. The US should take the cover that the Shiites are offering [i.e., the demand that we get out] and - with some further cover from Iraq’s neighbors, which would likely come - we should simply leave - our soldiers should come home.