Commentary

2006 Midterm Elections Force Change in Iraq Strategy

What is all the fuss about the Iraq Study Group? Shouldn‘t this group have been convened sometime in late 2002, or early 2003 – before the invasion? I guess the Bush administration thought it would be a no-brainer, something they could achieve while sleepwalking. The need for an Iraq Study Group shows that the Iraq War and occupation was executed with extremely poor judgment. The recent 2006 midterm elections swept in a Democratic majority and forced Bush to remove Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Hopefully this will lead to positive changes to the deadly bungling that marked the Iraq adventure to date.

They had it all figured out – we zip in with a small, high-tech army, treat the couch potatoes at home to a little “shock and awe” between reality TV shows, install a puppet government, start increasing the flow of oil to cover our costs, and plan the invasion of Iran from Iraq – a stable platform, a troop and aircraft carrier in the sand, sitting on top of it’s own vast fuel supply.

There was no need to study and plan for all possible outcomes, there could only be one – Victory. OK, maybe we’ll need some extra umbrellas to protect the troops from the monsoon of rose pedals tossed from grateful Iraqis (they certainly wouldn’t need extra body armor), but everything else will be a
cakewalk.

Meanwhile, back on planet Earth, three rudderless years have passed marked by hundreds of billions of US taxpayer dollars wasted, an American death toll that will soon hit 3.000, over a thousand Iraqi civilians dying each month, an Iraqi economy that is in shambles, and water, electricity and oil production that hover at pre-invasion levels. After a drubbing at the polls last week in the 2006 midterm elections due to Iraq War reality trumping the prewar fantasy, the Bush administration has decided that it’s time to reassess its approach in Iraq.

The first order of business after the election was the removal of Bush’s lightning rod, and architect of disaster, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. This I find exceedingly amusing, for just a week before the midterm elections, the president said Rumsfeld was doing a fantastic job. Why the sudden change of heart? Could this be a peace offering to the incoming Democratic majority?

If this is actually why he disposed of the secretary of disaster, then I find this to be a clear example of this administration’s complete disregard for the welfare of the men and women serving in Iraq.

By accepting Rumsfeld’s resignation, which was offered and refused several times over the past two years, Bush has signaled that it is time for a change of strategy with regard to the spiraling mess that is the occupation of Iraq. But, he did so grudgingly, with the midterm election results forcing him to take decisive action.

I don’t think that he would have replaced Rumsfeld had the elections gone his party’s way. Which means his deadly lack strategic vision, most recently labeled “adapt to win,” better known as “stay the course,” would have proceeded without modification.

The fact that a change in the political landscape forced Bush to alter his course toward the occupation of Iraq shows that he has put politics before everything else. It was evident from the start that Rumsfeld needed to go, so why not sooner rather than later? As far a the Iraq Study Group is concerned, that too should have been convened long ago. Many lives would have been spared, and billions of dollars saved if these actions were not held hostage to Bush’s cynical political calculations.

I hope that the Iraq Study Group, made up of seasoned statesmen, and the future secretary of Defense, William Gates, will offer sound and practical solutions to the Iraq debacle. Maybe the threat of real congressional oversight will force Bush and Cheney to act in the interests of the troops and the nation they are fighting for, and stop them from obsessing with the extension of executive power.

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© 2006 Splendid Marbles.