July 09, 2007
White House: No Debate On Iraq Pullout
Six words are coming back to haunt President Bush this week.
You break it, you own it.
That was the advice given to him by Colin Powell, his first secretary of state and apparently the only administration official who sought to convince Bush not to go to war against Iraq.
White House press secretary Tony Snow denied a report in the New York Times that administration officials are engaged in an "intensifying" debate about how to draw down troops.
"There's no debate right now on withdrawing forces from Iraq going on at all within the White House," Snow said, according to a report by CNN's Ed Henry.
No debate? At all?
That is incredibly difficult to believe, considering Bush now must answer to several influential Republican defectors on his war strategy. With Congress back at work this week, Bush is more alone than ever in his determination to see the war through.
But based on Snow's rebuttal of the Times story and what we know of Bush, it's a safe bet the commander in chief will do as promised -- wait out the summer until his top commanders on the ground deliver a progress report in September. In the meantime, with British troops down to just 5,000 and the vast majority of Americans opposing him, he -- not his country -- will completely own the Iraq war.
Bush has long said that to leave Iraq unstable would unleash even more violence and horror on the Middle East. That is undoubtedly true, as Iraqis themselves are painfully aware. With Sunnis separating themselves from al-Qaida fighters in droves, military commanders see a real opportunity to isolate and thereby squash insurgent fighters.
On top of considering the fate of Iraq, leaving that country in defeat could indelibly alter the standing of the United States in the world. Some notable observers agree that the U.S. will not duplicate the fall of Rome -- but any result short of victory in Iraq will probably mean long-lasting and perilous damage to the U.S.
Congress will try again this week to limn the U.S. military's stay in Iraq. One proposal, which will be attached to a larger defense spending bill, outlines conditions for a troop drawdown early next year. But such measures will have trouble passing -- not all the newly minted Republican war critics favor troop deadlines. Plus, Bush can be counted on to veto any legislation containing a timeline.
Lawmakers know this. But they feel obligated to object to Bush's war strategy via legislation -- even if it's legislation that is doomed. Political calculations aside, many have felt passionately about this war for some time. They also have had to personally deal with the families of the nearly 3,600 American servicemen and women killed in the war. Putting forward legislation allows them to say they have done everything reasonable in their power to stop the war.
The New York Times editorial board, which has argued that responsibility rests on the United States to stabilize the country it wrongly invaded, yesterday published just one editorial, in which it called on Bush to pull troops out immediately. "While Mr. Bush scorns deadlines, he kept promising breakthroughs -- after elections, after a constitution, after sending in thousands more troops. But those milestones came and went without any progress toward a stable, democratic Iraq or a path for withdrawal.
"Whatever his cause was, it is lost," the board concluded.
The Los Angeles Times' editorial board, which is not alone in suspecting that Bush is aware the "surge" plan isn't working but is waiting to ceremoniously make that announcement in September, urged the president today to not let nearly three more months of bloodshed and chaos go by without action.
But to assume Bush would do such a thing is to forget that he has largely dispensed with political considerations when it comes to the war. Moreover, Bush and his top commanders on the ground are largely in tune (if not with rank-and-file officers). A recent poll (subscription) indicates the public would sooner defer to the military's judgment than to either Bush or Congress.
To say that troops on the ground have a formidable task before them is an understatement. The same goes for civilian volunteers who are simply trying to help Iraqis improve their lives. "This American Life," a public radio program, aired over the weekend the story of a former Marine who signed on as a State Department volunteer in Iraq.
(DOD photo by Staff Sgt. Shawn Weismiller, U.S. Air Force.)
Posted at 10:44 AM
Posted to:
Bush Administration, David Petraeus, Iraq, Middle East, Military, President Bush, Robert Gates
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