By now it's clear we won't be staying the course in Iraq, but neither will there be any troop withdrawals. Notwithstanding the findings of the Iraq "Surrender" Group and the admission of countless senators, congressmen, generals, servicemen, former presidents, international observers, journalists, authors, pundits, former cabinet members, ex-Bush appointees, and our own, new Secretary of Defense, that we're losing the war, Bush seems determined to send in more troops. And for proof, we need look no further than Bob Gates' inaugural comments this afternoon. "All of us want to find a way to bring America's sons and daughters home again, but as the president has made clear, we simply cannot afford to fail in the Middle East. Failure in Iraq at this juncture would be a calamity that would haunt our nation, impair our credibility, and endanger Americans for decades to come."
What he failed to mention is the fact that this war was illegal from the start, based on fabricated intelligence, and sold to the American people as a preemptive measure. "Winning" in Iraq meant eradicating a tyrant and destroying his stockpile of weapons. Once it was clear those weapons never existed and Saddam Hussein was safely in jail, the concept of winning was infinitely harder to spin. The argument that we're "fighting terrorism" is ludicrous, given the fact that we invaded the country and ushered a wholesale massacre of its citizenry. And the thought that we could "bring democracy" to anyone, given the fact that our system is run by special interests, is equally absurd. Winning, therefore, can now only be measured as not losing, an ambiguity that further invokes our premise for the Vietnam War.
In case Mr. Gates hasn't noticed, we already have a calamity in Iraq. And it's not a scenario that 200,000 more troops will fix. We're also guaranteed to be haunted for many years to come, thanks to this administration--haunted by the fact that we were hoodwinked into losing some 3,000 U.S. servicemen and an estimated $2 trillion of our kids' money, to say nothing of the thousands of dead Iraqis. And as for our credibility? We have none. The world and our allies are appalled at our actions and our enemies have used our excesses to recruit thousands, if not millions, of supporters. That's the reason we're endangered today. And that's the reason we will be for decades to come. There is no "winning" this war no matter how many troops we commit. It was a mistake from the beginning and it was a mistake the Congress never would have allowed had the facts been known. In our view, distasteful as it may be to some, the only course in Iraq is to get out completely. It was a nefarious policy from the start and there will be wide ramifications for our blunder, but compounding the problem by sending more troops will only postpone the inevitable. Changing semanitics or upping the ante won't change the damnable facts.
Andrea Hackett is an freelance journalist, founder of the Las Vegas Dancers Alliance in Nevada, and editor of the Populist Review. She may be contacted at andreahackett@cox.net
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