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Iraq War - Don’t Snatch Defeat from the Jaws of Victory
Guest Column | By KT McFarland | June 19, 2008
Isn't
it extraordinary how quickly the Iraq War has faded from the headlines?
Nowadays, the only thing the media covers on Iraq is what happened
several years ago - claiming it was a mistake to invade in 2003, that
the Bush administration misstated the case for going to war, that the
Rumsfeld civilian and military team badly mismanaged the occupation.
Those
charges may or may not be true, but we won't know for sure until the
historians have taken over from the journalists and politicians in
analyzing the early years of the war. The crucial question with Iraq is
not what happened five years ago, but what should we do next? What are
our options in Iraq going forward?
The only option NOT available
is for us to pick up and come home as if the last five years didn't
happen. We can't undo the past. The Iraq War isn't like the movie Groundhog Day, where you get to start the day over again and correct the mistakes you made the first time.
So,
regardless of what you think about why we're there, or the mistakes
we're made while we've been there, we have to look to the future for
solutions and not the past for blame. There are no good options left in
Iraq, anything we do from immediate withdrawal to open ended commitment
to something in between will have ramifications.
But the
starting point for any discussion of what we do next should start by a
realistic assessment of the situation as it is today, which is
dramatically different from what it was just 18 months ago. By sending
in more troops with the Surge Strategy, by changing to a different
military strategy, and by turning much of the tactical decision making
over to the military commanders on the ground, U.S. forces have seen a
turn around in Iraq.
There is significant improvement in almost
every aspect of the war. During the Rumsfeld era they supported al
Qaeda and fought the Americans. But once Secretary Gates and General
Petraeus were in place and adopted the Surge Strategy, we were able to
bring the Sunnis over to our side. Beginning first in Anbar province,
the Awakening movement spread to other regions in Iraq. Recently Prime
Minister Maliki directed a joint Iraqi-U.S. offensive in Mosel against
the last redoubt of al Qaeda, which had already been driven out of
Anbar, Baghdad and Diyala Provinces. Al Qaeda in Iraq is all but
finished.
The Iraqi army, considered both corrupt and
incompetent just three years ago, has now started taking the initiative
and shown itself both willing to fight and able to secure victories
without the help of American forces. A few weeks ago the Iraqi army went
into Basra and drove out the Madhi Army and Iranian-backed Shite
militias. The Iraqi army recently entered and occupied Sadr City, once
the stronghold of Moqtada al Sadr's Shiite forces. They did it without
any American ground forces.
On the political front progress has
been slower. But the Iraqi parliament, after dragging its feet for
years, has recently passed a de-Bathification law, a pension law, and
an amnesty law. Sharing oil revenues has long been a sticking point in
Iraq - those regions that have the oil have been reluctant to share
with those that don't. But now, for the first time, oil revenue is being
distributed to the provinces through the annual budget process.
These successes started small and have multiplied over the last year. And, while Iraq will never be like, say Switzerland, it is finally emerging as a self-governing democracy and will soon be able to stand
on its own feet, and American forces can finally come home.
There
have been many mistakes in the Iraq war, costing greatly in Americans
lives and treasure. Americans are sick of this war, and angry at those
who started it. But as much as we'd like, we cannot undo the past, or
restore what has been lost. Our only choice is to go forward. As
Americans base their decisions on which candidate and which Iraq policy
to support, it is important to see things not as they were three, four
or five years ago, but as they are today. It's just too important an
issue to play politics with. The Iraq war is no longer lost, but it is
not quite won yet. Americans won't tolerate an open-ended commitment,
but they don't want to give up what has been won at such enormous cost.
And, as Ambassador Ryan Crocker said in Congressional testimony earlier
this year, how we leave Iraq will ultimately be more important than how
we got in. The one mistake we don't want to make going forward is to
snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor KT McFarland is a former top Pentagon official in the Reagan Administration and a frequent television and radio commentator on national security issues and foreign affairs.
Guest columns do not necessarily reflect the views of Accuracy in Media or its staff.
3 Comments | Post a Comment
It’s amazing how the fortunes or misfortunes of war turn out. The War and the invasion was superb, then things went down hill fast. Bush looked like total loser and the Liberal Media pounced on any opportunity to denounce the war including our SOLDIERS. Remember Murtha and Turbin Durbin?
Now the WAR looks like it CAN be won and the LIBERAL MEDIA is nowhere to be found. No more comments from the Democratic Congress either!
No matter, what the outcome. The world is rid of an insane despot and the Iraqi’s may find peace and fortune in their future.
We can’t give up now. It will be a total disaster for America.
I am amazed to hear and read the word “Winning” all the time when an American speaks about the Iraq fiasco. Why is it so important to win? What are you trying to win? and at what cost. This war has become more of a personal distressed “EGO” matter for the Americans rather than look into the facts and make things much better. The more you have pushed for the “Winning” scenario, the worse the situation has got. If Iraqi’s want you to go,just leave. Is loosing more worth than the lives of American soldiers in Iraq? Well, looks like the unfortunate neo-cons have opted to spend more American lives. IF FOR GOD’s sake some one would just tell American’s to go home to your families and let the UN do some rebuilding work. Things can be so much better. But, it’s all about winning not loosing. Winning is far more important than human lives. My God, just unbelievable.
June 20 at 11:36 am | #1 | Link
How blind, no one in government today give a care of what our forefathers warned of. If you really think their was wmd , you are blind. Further more even if Saddam had wmd.then to take him down, even tho we never were threatened by him..yet we invaded anyway.The thing is a million people died when we did. Do you really thing they have forgotten, even as we did NOT forget Peral Harbor? The thing is, we ARE NOT to nation build, PERIOD. one big warning from our forefathers. We have been doing it ass backwards. And IF the government here had followed what our ARMY wanted to do that made sense things would still be better. They wanted to take down Saddam, then go to the border first off , and not let any jihad in. And to let the Iraqi army fight the terrorist they had lived with under Saddam. but oh no, Bush and his toddies say no. Same thing in Israel and the Lebanon war, NOT troops were allow to send in ground troops early enough,,Bush would not allow that, plus Tony Blair gave Hezballah wmd etc. white they got to use the enemy got to use the satilite to see where the IDF troops were. Now they want to take the land from the Jews and give it to the enemy, just like the enemy is welcome here. And the Sunni,,all Saudi’s..they were mad because Bush not knowing the tribes. started building a Shiite nation in Iraq..then Saudi let him know and now it is hell between the Shitte and the Sunni there in Iraq. Most people under Saddam no matter what tribe lived in the same neighborhood, now not so..Now our enemies are welcome here..and even civil war is coming to our shores , and we are not stupid enough not to know they are here..G-d Himself, tore down the tower of Babel,,too much violence, and evil and threw us into our own countries and cultures..gave us each our own language..But now the Government want to make a one world gov and have the ten rule us all under islam, which they brag on. It won’t work, never did and never will,,,until the L-rd comes.and HE sets up His own Kingom which HE says is NOT of this world , despite the ones who think they will set it up..they will be ruled under antichrist a muslim ,,it will be a terrible day and make what Hitler did seem tame..your choice folks..it will be horific. and it is here and getting worse each day !!!