As of last week, The U.S. Armed Forces have spent more time fighting in Iraq than they did during all of World War II. Keep in mind that more than three years and a half years ago President Bush landed on the USS Abraham Lincoln and declared, “Mission Accomplished.” The time has come for the President to come to grips with the realities that most of the world has seen for all too long.
The New York Times disclosed on Wednesday that the long-awaited, bi-partisan, Baker-Hamilton report, which is set to be released next week, stands in direct contrast to the President’s policies in Iraq. The report states that since the Bush Administration has given the Iraqi government an open-ended troop commitment, they are under no pressure to actively work towards, well, anything. To quote the report, “unless the government of [Iraqi] Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki believed that Mr. Bush was under pressure to pull back troops in the near future, there will be zero sense of urgency to reach the political settlement that needs to be reached.” It is our presence in Iraq that is actually slowing their process of reunification.
The report recommends that 15 brigades (brigades usually consist of between 3,000 and 5,000 troops each) be brought home expeditiously. But just this past Tuesday, the President stated again, “There’s one thing I’m not going to do: I’m not going to pull the troops off the battlefield before the mission is complete.” I thought we’d already accomplished the mission over three years ago. Regardless, however, the President’s ignorant determination to forcefully keep our men and women in Iraq now boils down to not just mere incompetence, but a complete dereliction of duty to protect not only U.S. citizen, but the armed forces as well.
This week, the conflict in Iraq has officially been designated a civil war by most major media outlets. Last Monday, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow defined a civil war as, “where people break up into clearly identifiable feuding sides, clashing for supremacy within the land.” Well said, Tony. I completely agree. He went on to say, “…in this particular case, no. (Iraq is not in a civil war.) What you do have, is a number of different groups, they’ve been described in some cases as rejectionists and in some cases terrorists. They severally and together poise a threat to the government.” Thanks for the clarification, Tony.
In the most recent polling conducted, only 31 percent of American’s approve the of the President’s Iraq War policy. However, it’s not only the American people who are fed up with this ongoing quagmire. Polls taken from the same time show that 91 percent of Sunnis and 74 percent of Shiites want U.S. troops out completely within a year. But again, last week while in Vietnam, the President reiterated, “We’ll succeed unless we quit.” The horrible irony of these statements should be lost on no one.
In spite of all the facts on the ground, the recommendations of his closest advisors and the recent mandate against his policy delivered in the form of the 2006 midterm elections, which the President described as “a thumpin’,” Mr. Bush has shown again that bullheaded determination outweighs all discernible logic. It is clear now that we must leave Iraq in order for them to find reconciliation. It’s time to bring our troops home.
Most tragic of all, as the President continues wearing his veil of ignorance, men and women, sons and daughters, mothers and fathers are dying so that Mr. Bush can attempt to save face. I have to tell myself that the President went into Iraq with the right intentions, but given that he now has overwhelming evidence that his war is irreparably going in the wrong direction, all subsequent losses of American lives in Iraq are on his hands.
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