Five Years Of War
Today marks the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq,
a preventative war of choice whose
purpose,
according to President Bush, was "to
disarm Iraq, to free its people, and to defend the world from grave
danger." Five years later, it is clear there were no weapons of
mass destruction to disarm in Iraq and no grave danger from which to
defend. In
2006, a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) concluded that the war in
Iraq had become "the
'cause celebre' for jihadists, breeding a deep resentment of U.S.
involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the
global jihadist movement" faster than the United
States and its allies can reduce the threat. The 2007 NIE concluded
that "al-Qaeda
[had] reorganized to pre-9/11 strength," largely as a
result of the United States turning its
attention away from Afghanistan and
Pakistan in order to focus on Iraq. Also, al Qaeda's
association with insurgents in Iraq helped "energize
the broader Sunni
extremist community, raise resources, and...recruit and
indoctrinate
operatives." Far from making the United States safer, the Iraq war has
made the world much more dangerous.
A FAILED RECONSTRUCTION: A
recent World Health Organization and Iraqi health ministry report
estimated
that 151,000 people were killed between the start of the
invasion on March 20, 2003 and June 2006. In a March 17 report, the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that millions
of Iraqis are still deprived of clean water and medical care,
describing Iraq's health care system as "now
in
worse shape than ever." Iraqis endure intense heat in the summer
and freezing cold in the
winter because
of a lack of electricity, even though more than $6 billion, mostly
in American money, has been
devoted to improving supply. The New York Times reported that "typical
daily peaks are around
4,500 megawatts." According to a recent report by the Special
Inspector
General for Iraq Reconstruction, "that's only
about 500 megawatts
more
than what it was shortly after the start of reconstruction five years
ago -- before the completion of thousands of American-supported
projects." Garbage collection is notoriously unreliable, with refuse
often piling up "for
days, sometimes weeks,
emanating toxic fumes." In a new report, the U.N. High
Commissioner for Refugees stated that, five years after the U.S.-led
invasion, Iraqis are still fleeing in large numbers.
Iraqis
topped the list of asylum seekers in industrialized countries for
the
second year running, accounting for more than 10 percent of the
total with 45,200 applications last year. "It is important to bear in
mind, however, that Iraqi asylum seekers in industrialized countries
represent only one percent of the estimated 4.5 million Iraqis uprooted
by the conflict," the report said. Amnesty International reports that
Iraq continues to be "one
of the most dangerous countries in the world, with hundreds of
Iraqi
civilians killed every month."
A FAILING POLITICAL RECONCILIATION: In
the latest blow against progress toward political accommodation
between Iraq's ethnic and sectarian factions, a conference to reconcile
Iraq's political groups began to
unravel even before it got under way on Tuesday, as members of the
Sunni Iraqi Accordance Front said "they
would not
participate in the conference until Shiite lawmakers address their
political demands." The Shiite
bloc led by cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and some smaller groups also
boycotted the conference, revealing the deep and persistent
divisions between and within Iraq's main sects. Over the past few
months, several legislative accomplishments that were first seen
as signs of progress turned out to be much less favorable on
closer inspection, or were simply reversed. In January, a
de-Baathification reform law, initially "billed as the first
significant political step forward in Iraq
after months of deadlock," was "riddled with loopholes and caveats
to the point that some Sunni and
Shiite officials say it could actually exclude more former Baathists
than it lets back in." In February, the passage of a
package of three laws (addressing amnesty for detainees, budget
allocations, and provincial powers) was hailed
by conservatives as a significant
political advance. Days later, the provincial powers law was
struck down by Iraq's three-member presidency council, breaching
the compromise that had enabled the passage of the three laws.
WAR ARCHITECTS STILL IN DENIAL: The
individuals who devised and supported the Iraq war still refuse to
admit
error. President Bush insists that the war was worth the "high
cost in lives and
treasure." On separate surprise visits to Iraq this week, Vice
President
Dick Cheney and Sen.
John McCain (R-AZ) seemed oblivious to the tragedy that their
policy had
unleashed upon the people of Iraq. Cheney preposterously claimed that
the Iraq war has been a "successful
endeavor" and blithely "warned
against losing the gains the surge has produced," even as Baghdad
was again
wracked
by explosions. On the same day that a suicide bomber killed
over forty people in the Shia shrine city of Kerbala, McCain repeated
his mantra that "the
surge is working." Here at home, the war architects
frantically cast blame on each other, and even on
the Iraqis themselves. American Enterprise Institute (AEI) scholar Richard
Perle still maintains that invading Iraq was "the
right decision," but blames Iraq
proconsul L. Paul Bremer for "underestimat[ing]
the task" of nation-building. Douglas
Feith, the former director of the Pentagon's Office
of Special Plans, has also blamed Bremer for "mishandling...the
political transition" in Iraq. AEI analyst Danielle Pletka
blamed
the Iraqi people for not embracing the opportunity
afforded them by the American invasion and occupation. Alas, Pletka
laments, "there
is no freedom gene."
A WAY FORWARD: The Iraq
invasion has wrought a fractured, dysfunctional
government, a disunified largely militia-controlled
state closely
allied with Iran to the east and in simmering conflict with
Turkey to the north, an
open-source training
ground for terrorists and a cause around
which global jihadists
have rallied. American
standing is at a low point in the Middle East and Arab world, with
Arab
democrats and reformers isolated and frustrated. It not enough to
simply stay the course. The
United States
must reset its strategy by looking beyond the
deteriorating situation in Iraq in order to counter the threat from
global terrorist groups and ensure stability in the entire Middle East
and Gulf region, using the credible promise of withdrawal from Iraq to
encourage Iraqi leaders to come to a sustainable political
accommodation. This is an essential first step in order to correct the
tragic policy mistakes of the last years, of which the decision to
invade Iraq is the most obvious and profound.
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Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) are introducing legislation "aimed at stabilizing financial markets by helping as many as 2 million homeowners avoid foreclosure."
MASSACHUSETTS:
Big Dig and national credit crisis result in monthly debt payments of
$2 million for state Turnpike Authority.
CALIFORNIA:
Los Angeles and Long Beach ports unveil $19 million "plan to
persuade shippers to burn cleaner fuel...a move expected to slash local
air pollution by 11%."
IOWA:
Bill would fortify sunshine laws after complaints about open-records
laws doubled in last five years.
COLORADO:
State rep introduces bill to create Colorado Stem Cells Cure Fund.
THINK PROGRESS: Paul Bremer: Iraq war architects are "running away from their building."
WONK ROOM: Wildlife director traps employees in ethics catch-22.
THE BLOTTER: A federal judge gives the White House three days to comply with e-mail inquiry.
IGNITING REAL CHANGE: A call to pundits and politicians to "consider the implications" of the Iraq war "on the lives of women, youth and low-income families."
"I have the most experience of any presidential candidate when it comes to foreign policy and advancing our national and economic security priorities around the globe."
-- Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), 1/29/08
VERSUS
"Sen. John McCain... incorrectly asserted Tuesday that Iran is training and supplying al-Qaeda in Iraq, confusing the Sunni insurgent group with the Shiite extremists who U.S. officials believe are supported by their religious brethren in the neighboring country."
-- Washington Post, 3/19/08
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