IRAQ
The Long Hard Slog to Elections <THIS IS AN INTERESTING READ.... LONG BUT GOOD.>
Military leaders met with Congress yesterday to warn lawmakers that the upcoming
months in Iraq will be even more violent and turbulent in the lead-up to the
election. Officials, including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Joint Chiefs
of Staff Chairman Richard Myers and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage,
told Congress in a closed-door briefing yesterday "that it would be impossible
to hold elections in Iraq while several major cities are in the hands of
insurgents." Much of the country, including Fallujah, Samarra, Baqubah and
Ramadi, is increasingly in the violent hands of insurgents. Gen. John Abizaid,
commander of U.S. troops in Iraq, admitted yesterday that it was possible that
more U.S. troops would be needed to secure Iraq's elections: "I think we will
need more troops than we currently have."
THE REALITY IN IRAQ: The situation in Iraq already is a sobering one. The
U.S.-led coalition forces are widely perceived as "occupiers," not "liberators."
The number of Iraqi insurgents has quadrupled
(http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,1101040920-695820,00.html)
over the past year. Insurgent attacks on U.S. forces are up 20 percent since
the spring and 100 percent since last winter
(http://www.brookings.edu/views/op-ed/ohanlon/20040917.htm) ; last month,
attacks on U.S. troops averaged 90 a day, five times as many as last winter.
Even the highly fortified Green Zone
(http://news.ft.com/cms/s/e0214956-074f-11d9-9672-00000e2511c8.html) is no
longer considered completely secure.
THE COST OF WAR COMES HOME: As military leaders warn the situation in Iraq is
about to get more chaotic, a new study by the National Priorities Project
examines the effect of the war in Iraq on each of the fifty states
(http://nationalpriorities.org/highcostofwar) . NPP compiled data on the number
of soldiers killed and wounded in each state, the dollar amount each state is
paying for the war, and the number of their reservists and National Guard troops
on active duty. The result is sobering. Pennsylvania
(http://www.nationalpriorities.org/issues/military/iraq/highcost/pa.pdf) , for
example, has shelled out $6.3 billion of taxpayer money for the war in Iraq.
Fifty-two men and women from the Granite State have been killed; 270 have been
wounded. The state of Michigan
(http://www.nationalpriorities.org/issues/military/iraq/highcost/mi.pdf) has
ponied up $4.6 billion. Thirty of its troops have been killed, and 2,352 of its
National Guard soldiers and reservists have been called to active duty. (For a
view of the federal scale, check out American Progress and Project Billboard's
running total of the cost of war
(http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=171440) .)
THE COST OF MISSED OPPORTUNITIES: The National Priorities Project also
calculates the cost of the Iraq war in missed opportunities. Current policies,
the study finds, weakened international institutions and reduced capacity to
work in cooperation with allies and others to prevent terrorism; neglected
homeland security needs and nonproliferation; and diverted money away from
domestic programs. In Florida, for example, the state paid seven times as much
money (http://www.nationalpriorities.org/issues/military/iraq/highcost/wi.pdf)
for the war as it did for homeland security and domestic programs combined. In
fact, for the amount of money Florida gave the federal government for the war in
Iraq, 140,821 container inspectors
(http://database.nationalpriorities.org/cgi-bin/WebObjects/NPP.woa/13/wo/1sKebMbCbo7m5UY1e7gB00/0.0.1.3.12.1)
could have been hired to protect America's ports. And for the $5.7 billion the
state of Ohio has had to spend for the war in Iraq, 779,785 people
(http://database.nationalpriorities.org/cgi-bin/WebObjects/NPP.woa/13/wo/1sKebMbCbo7m5UY1e7gB00/2.0.1.3.12.1)
could have received health care coverage.
ALLAWI IS IN THE HOUSE: Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi will address a joint
session of Congress
(http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2004-09-22-iraq-allawi_x.htm) today
"as an increasingly violent insurgency complicates his country's plans for its
first Democratic elections." He has joined President Bush in avoiding addressing
the crucial questions about instability and ongoing violence in Iraq thus far.
Allawi was remarkably removed from reality yesterday on CNN; asked by Wolf
Blizter what he would do to deal with the deep and disruptive tensions between
religious and ethnic groups in Iraq, the former exile said, "There are no
problems between Shia and Sunnis and Kurds and Arabs and Turkmen... usually we
have no problems of ethnic or religious nature in Iraq.
(http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0409/21/wbr.01.html) " Anthony Cordesman, a
military analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in
Washington, suggested in today's Boston Globe "that the administration should
spend less time staging an attractive photo opportunity and more adopting a
realistic view of the challenges ahead
(http://www.boston.com/dailynews/267/wash/Bush_hopes_Allawi_can_reassure:.shtml)
. 'As Prime Minister Allawi comes here, we need real accomplishments and real
progress and honest measures of capability, not sound bites of rhetoric which
are not substantiated by the figures being issued in detail by the United States
government.'"
LEGITIMACY QUESTIONS: The New York Times reports Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani,
Iraq's "most powerful Shiite leader, is growing increasingly concerned
(http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/23/international/middleeast/23sistani.html)
that nationwide elections could be delayed, his aides said, and has even
threatened to withdraw his support for the elections unless changes are made to
increase the representation of Shiites." Sistani is worried that control is
overwhelmingly going to the political parties which cooperated with the American
occupation and are comprised largely of exiles. Sistani's aids claim the cleric
is attempting to contact U.N. advisor Lakhdar Brahimi to voice his concerns. |
