Iraq's bleak future
Justin Gero
Issue date: 2/9/07 Section: Ed-Op
It is clear now that the Iraq war is a failed endeavor. We were told that we were going into Iraq to stop a dictator who was an "imminent threat" because of his ties to terrorists and his access to "weapons of mass destruction." We were told that we were going to install democracy. We were told that the U.S. military would bring stability to the region.
We now know that there were no WMDs or ties to terrorism. As we look at the ruinous effects of a violent civil war, we now know that it was a fool's venture. We installed democracy and created conditions of American animosity that allowed religious radicals to sweep the elections. In the Iraqi Parliament, corruption is widespread, and one member was actually convicted of bombing the U.S. embassy in Kuwait in 1983. There was not a moment in which our presence brought stability, so why do we think that it will help now?
Our leaders still live in a bubble, blinded by optimism, patriotism or perhaps sheer ignorance. Dick Cheney recently was quoted as saying: "The reality on the ground is, we've made major progress." He said this a mere week before U.S. intelligence agencies released the "National Intelligence Estimate" talking about the rapidly deteriorating situation in Iraq. We are not making progress in Iraq; we are tearing the country apart and have laid the groundwork for a civil war that has already claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands.
The Iraq Study Group Report concluded that diplomacy was the only real solution to ending the Iraq violence. Our president has instead decided to put "more than 21,000 more American troops in Iraq," emphasis on "more than." It turns out that when President Bush told us he was sending "more than" 21,000 troops, he actually meant that he was sending as many as 48,000 more troops into Iraq. It wasn't until the Congressional Budget Office decided to ask about the details to figure out the cost of the escalation that anyone realized that the actual troop surge would be more than double what the president had initially said.
We now know that there were no WMDs or ties to terrorism. As we look at the ruinous effects of a violent civil war, we now know that it was a fool's venture. We installed democracy and created conditions of American animosity that allowed religious radicals to sweep the elections. In the Iraqi Parliament, corruption is widespread, and one member was actually convicted of bombing the U.S. embassy in Kuwait in 1983. There was not a moment in which our presence brought stability, so why do we think that it will help now?
Our leaders still live in a bubble, blinded by optimism, patriotism or perhaps sheer ignorance. Dick Cheney recently was quoted as saying: "The reality on the ground is, we've made major progress." He said this a mere week before U.S. intelligence agencies released the "National Intelligence Estimate" talking about the rapidly deteriorating situation in Iraq. We are not making progress in Iraq; we are tearing the country apart and have laid the groundwork for a civil war that has already claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands.
The Iraq Study Group Report concluded that diplomacy was the only real solution to ending the Iraq violence. Our president has instead decided to put "more than 21,000 more American troops in Iraq," emphasis on "more than." It turns out that when President Bush told us he was sending "more than" 21,000 troops, he actually meant that he was sending as many as 48,000 more troops into Iraq. It wasn't until the Congressional Budget Office decided to ask about the details to figure out the cost of the escalation that anyone realized that the actual troop surge would be more than double what the president had initially said.
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