|
When will American people be told the truth about
Iraq?
By Michael Goodwin
05/06/07 "Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel " -- -- Now that President
Bush and the Democrats have taken turns grandstanding over his
veto of their troop withdrawal bill, it's time for a bipartisan
burst of honesty.
Instead of haggling for political advantage, Bush and members of
Congress should both confess that they have not been straight
about the future in Iraq.
The president's promise to "complete the mission" is a triumph
of a tired slogan over reality, just as the Dems' pledge to "end
the war" is riddled with loopholes. It's time to cut the bull
and be realistic about where we're going.
Start with Bush. While he blasted Dems again last Tuesday for
demanding the start of troop withdrawal by Oct. 1 as a recipe
for chaos, he has quietly accepted a de-facto deadline set by
his own commander that is not much different.
Gen. David Petraeus said last week that he would decide in
September whether the surge of added troops was working.
Implicit in the commitment, which includes a public report to
Congress, is that a lack of progress would doom the plan.
While it's not clear what Plan B is, it is certain the surge
must pay dividends to continue past the fall.
"We think that's the appropriate time to make it," Petraeus said
of his review. "It will be a time at which we will have had our
additional forces on the ground for several months, all of them
operating in the areas in which we intend to deploy them." If
that isn't a deadline, I don't know what it is.
And Petraeus warned he would not be an easy grader. He will
scrutinize everything from gains in the Iraqi army to progress
on sharing oil revenue.
"Success, in the end, will depend on Iraqi actions," Petraeus
said. "We can provide the Iraqis an opportunity, but they will
have to exploit it."
Yet even if the surge fails, Democrats will not be delivering on
their pledge to fully end the war.
Party leaders, and especially the gaggle of senators running for
president, have made fanciful promises that sound as though the
break would be instant, clean and complete. Sen. Hillary Clinton
(D-N.Y.), for example, said that, if Bush doesn't end the war,
"As president, I will."
Ah, that depends on how you define "end." Clinton, like Sen.
Barack Obama (D-Ill.), voted for the withdrawal legislation,
which includes four exceptions that could keep tens of thousands
of troops in Iraq indefinitely.
Under this legislation, troops could remain for purposes of:
• Protecting American diplomatic facilities and American
citizens, including members of the U.S. armed forces;
• Serving in roles consistent with customary diplomatic
positions;
• Engaging in targeted special actions limited in duration and
scope to killing or capturing members of al-Qaida and other
terrorist organizations with global reach;
• Training and equipping members of the Iraqi security forces.
Those are worthwhile commitments, but they are huge, especially
when you add in support personnel. A major in the Marine
Reserves, writing in The New York Times, said those functions
would need 75,000 U.S. troops.
It's noteworthy that neither Clinton nor Obama has made a habit
of citing their support for such numbers on the campaign trail.
At 75,000 strong, our force would be about half of what we have
now, but still a long way from ending the war.
Indeed, the Marine major, Owen West, who has served two tours in
Iraq, predicted that the 75,000 would be in Iraq at least until
the fall of 2008.
That is when Americans will elect our next president. Surely by
then, somebody will be forced to tell us the truth about Iraq.
Michael Goodwin is a columnist for the New York Daily News.
Click here
to comment on this and other articles
Send Page To a Friend
In accordance
with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material
is distributed without profit to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving the
included information for research and educational
purposes. Information Clearing House has no
affiliation whatsoever with the originator of
this article nor is Information ClearingHouse
endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
|
