America’s Iraq rebuilding strategy is failing
fayettevillenc.com
It may still be premature to declare Iraq a quagmire, but not by much. Despite all American efforts to maintain peace and restore essential services, the country continues to deteriorate.
Five months after George W. Bush declared the end of war, the chaos grows. Tuesday's car-bombing that wrecked the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad and killed the top U.N. envoy there was a bloody exclamation point on a sad saga. Five months of nation-building isn't a long time, but there is compelling evidence that our postwar Iraq strategy is failing.
There is no argument here that the removal of Saddam Hussein was anything but a good thing. He was a brutal dictator who presided over a lifetime of atrocities - a genocidal butcher. His country, and the world, were well served by his downfall.
But since the war ended and efforts to restore order began, progress has been elusive. Instead, Iraq is sliding into a chaotic abyss. Law and order have not been re-established. Indeed, the streets are increasingly dangerous. Electricity and water are unreliable, and frequently not available. Fuel shortages are the rule. And there is growing evidence that there are far more international terrorists in the country now than there were during Saddam's rule. Oil and water lines are regularly sabotaged; there are reports of new terrorist training camps in the desert. And now a truck bomb takes out a Baghdad hotel that served as U.N. headquarters.
Amid reports that Islamic fundamentalist terrorists are streaming into Iraq from Iran, Saudi Arabia and Syria, it is clear that the nation is on the edge of chaos. It is equally clear that the American strategy for restoration of Iraq's government, economy and infrastructure is failing.
Two actions are necessary, immediately:
Most important, the United States must reassert and strengthen its commitment to Iraq's security and rebuilding. It has long been clear that our troop levels are insufficient to keep the peace, despite Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's tired assertions to the contrary. More troops - and especially troops skilled in policing - are needed. And they should be well supported, with the good food, water and living conditions that a long-term deployment demands. There is a special urgency for efforts to seal Iraq's now-porous borders and prevent further infusions of fanatic would-be martyrs.
It's time for the president and his inner circle to abandon their lone-cowboy stance and invite a broad-based international coalition (not the current small token) to help keep the peace, restore essential services and build a competent, new, democratic government. The United Nations has more than 50 years of experience doing just that and should be a major partner. Average Iraqis are increasingly seeing Americans as the enemy, not the rescuer. A far broader coalition could defuse the anger and speed recovery.
None of that will spare this country the massive expense ahead. We chose to go to war, and we bear responsibility for the recovery. We have a commitment and we must keep it.
But unless we make some sweeping changes in strategy, we will have little to show for our investment. Our choice is clear - a new course, or a quagmire. |
