Iraq: No deadline, no dollars

By Weekly Archive On Sep 18, 2007

For
anybody looking for new insights, a new start, or renewed hope about
the war in Iraq, Gen. Petraeus’ long-awaited testimony before
Congress and the American people was a big disappointment.

In
two days of testimony, what did we learn? Not much. Petraeus and
Ambassador Ryan Crocker offered no real reduction in troops, no plan
or timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq, no change of mission,
and no hope of political progress.

Now
the real question is: How dumb are we? Are we dumb enough to fall for
the slickest military con job since Lyndon Johnson brought Gen.
William Westmoreland home from Vietnam to reassure Congress there was
"light at the end of the tunnel"? I think not. The American
people can see through this charade.

Take
the issue of troop reduction. Starting with a token 4,000 to 5,000
Marines redeployed before the end of the year, Petraeus boasted we
might (underscore "might") draw down to "pre-surge
levels," or 130,000 troops, by mid-July 2008 — just in time to
give Republican candidates a boost in the November 2008 elections.

Politics
aside, that’s no troop reduction at all. It simply gets us back to
the same number of troops we had in Iraq a year ago, before the surge
began. Beyond that, Petraeus said he had no idea when we might be
able to start bringing our core 130,000 soldiers home, or how long
troops might have to stay in Iraq. Earlier, he’d predicted that some
American forces would have to remain in Iraq for nine or 10 years.

On
political progress, Petraeus and Crocker were even more pessimistic.
Both admitted there were few, if any, signs that Sunnis, Shiites and
Kurds were willing to revolve their differences. Ambassador Crocker
even suggested we might as well drop the 18 benchmarks Congress has
given the Iraqi Parliament, because they’re never going to achieve
them, anyway.

But
wait a minute. That’s what the surge was all about, remember? The
whole purpose of sending additional troops, as announced by President
Bush last January, was to give the Iraqi government enough "breathing
space" so that it could achieve political stability. Clearly
we’ve done our job — and they’ve failed to do theirs.

Despite
the lack of political progress, the general and the ambassador still
argue that the surge is working because the level of violence is
down. Again, they’re speaking half-truths at best. Yes, there were
fewer civilian deaths reported this summer than a year ago (maybe
because with so many Iraqi families having fled their homes, there
are fewer targets). But civilian deaths this year have far surpassed
the number killed in 2004, 2005 and early 2006. Meanwhile, according
to ABC News, this has been the bloodiest year yet for American
troops.

With
no political progress, no real reduction in troops, and more American
casualties than ever, how could Petraeus and Crocker argue that the
surge is working? They can’t, unless they’re merely repeating talking
points prepared for them ahead of time by the Bush White House —
which is, of course, exactly what they were doing. When President
Bush accepted the Petraeus recommendations as "his own,"
the charade was complete.

If
the path ahead in Iraq is murky, the path at home is clear. Bush’s
plan of bringing 30,000 troops home 10 months from now is not only
too little, too late, but it comes with too high a price. At current
rates, another 1,000 young Americans will die in Iraq during that
time. For what? So George Bush can drag this war out until he leaves
office and dump it in the lap of his successor.

The
war in Iraq has already lasted longer than World War II and the
American Civil War. Enough already! This time, Democrats must hang
tough. Congress should not appropriate one more dollar for Iraq
without a firm timetable for ending the occupation of Iraq and
bringing all American troops home.

If
President Bush vetoes that legislation, tough. Then he, not Congress,
will be responsible for cutting off funding for the troops. No
deadline, no dollars. It’s unconscionable to allow one more American
to die for Bush’s endless, unnecessary, immoral and illegal war.

Bill
Press is host of a nationally syndicated radio show and author of a
new book, "How
the Republicans Stole Religion." His
email address is: bill@billpress.com. His Web site is:
www.billpress.com.