Recent events, statements show Iraq is a losing battle

By RICH ADAMS

7/17/07

http://www.cheboygannews.com/articles/2007/07/16/news/opinion/opinion2.txt

I watched part of President George W. Bush's news conference this
week. I could only shake my head negatively as I listened to him
trying to justify his "stay the course" policy as applied to the war
in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I personally believe Bush is in major denial.

In response to a reporter's question about the growing body count, the
inability of the Iraqi government to meet benchmarks and goals and the
increasing strength of al-Qaida (a recent report estimated the
terrorist group to be equal in power to what it was on Sept. 11,
2001), Bush hemmed and hawed and tap danced around the question until
another reporter asked a new question.

Bush is apparently listening to his handlers who believe the war is on
course. Perhaps he should pick up a newspaper or watch a broadcast
news report on Iraq to get his facts. Because the story he is getting
is heavily filtered or embellished to make him believe that this war
is still a viable, winnable conflict.

Now I know what you might be thinking. When this war began, Rich Adams
was behind President Bush 110 percent. He's waffling.

Yes, I did support the war. I believed then that very capable people
were calling the shots in Washington, D.C. I believed, as did most
Americans four years ago, that the Iraqi people wanted to be a part of
a democracy. I thought that the Iraqi and Afghani governments would
quickly and happily embrace the gift the coalition was offering. I
also believed that any differences among the three main factions of
Iraq could be mended long enough to have a sitting government in place
and muster an army and police force that could be trusted.

I think nearly everyone now realizes that those were blue sky goals
that will never be achieved. And I don't think I am alone in my
changing course on the war, realizing that we are, indeed, bogged down
in a Vietnam-like quagmire that will end badly.

And don't get me wrong. It is not the fault of the men and women of
the military who have served their nation selflessly in Iraq and
Afghanistan. Our military has proven itself again and again in combat
and in compassionate care for the people of the nations in which they
serve. The blame for the mess in Iraq and Afghanistan do not lie in
the conduct of those soldiers and sailors and Marines and Air Force
members and Coast Guardsmen.

Nor does blame lie in the American people, who have supported the men
and women in harm's way in the Middle East. While the voice against
the wars has been strong, it has never turned against the members of
the military.

No, the blame lies clearly in Washington, D.C., and the inability of
the current administration to realize that Iraq is a lost cause.

Even Iraq realizes this.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki shrugged off U.S. doubts of his
government's military and political progress on Saturday, saying Iraqi
forces are capable and American troops can leave "any time they want."

One of his top aides, meanwhile, accused the United States of
embarrassing the Iraqi government by violating human rights and
treating his country like an "experiment in a U.S. lab."

He said Iraqi troops and police could fill the void left by departing
American troops.

The same police forces were involved in a violent firefight with
American troops last week. Yes, it was members of the Iraqi military,
so to speak, against Americans. Our allies fired on us. And reports
came out about the same time stating that members of the Iraqi police
force either abandoned their posts or joined forces with those
involved in a plot to kidnap Americans.

That's serious, in my personal opinion, because it shows the
impossibility of working with a government that, at the drop of a hat,
can turn against its allies.

More and more of Bush's own party is turning against him. Perhaps
that's because an election year is just around the corner, and these
politicians are known to eat their young to get re-elected.

Or perhaps it is because they have come to realize what a losing
battle we are fighting in trying to bring democracy to a nation in a
civil war where it is not desired and probably would never stick even
if it were installed.

Rich Adams is editor of the Cheboygan Daily Tribune. You can contact
him at 627-7144 or via e-mail at radams@cheboygantribune.com .