Real report from Iraq

Earlier this year Congressional Republicans broke the news to President Bush that there must be real progress in Iraq if Congress is to continue funding the war – and word of that progress had to come from someone other than the president, as he has no credibility left.

A plan was put into motion that General Petraeus would implement Bush’s surge plan and then report back to Congress in September. Republicans and many Democrats went along with this; at least there would be some objective statement from the military on progress in Iraq.

Now we learn two important facts that expose any pretense that this report will be objective or authoritative: the report will not be written by General Petraeus but by the White House staff, with “input” from the General and others. And, the report will be delivered to Congress on September 11. Get it? 9/11 equals Iraq. This is pure political theater. The White House has desperately tried to conflate 9/11 and Iraq ever since it became obvious that all the reasons given for invading Iraq have proved false.

But we don’t have to wait for 9/11; we already have a credible report. Seven active duty NCOs of the 82nd Airborne Division, at the end of their 15-month tour, recently wrote an editorial called “The War as We Saw It,” which is an intelligent and sober analysis. Here are some excerpts:

“Four years into our occupation, we have failed on every promise, while we have substituted Baath Party tyranny with a tyranny of Islamist, militia and criminal violence. When the primary preoccupation of average Iraqis is when and how they are likely to be killed, we can hardly feel smug as we hand out care packages.”

“In the end, we need to recognize that our presence may have released Iraqis from the grip of a tyrant, but that it has also robbed them of their self-respect. They will soon realize that the best way to regain dignity is to call us what we are – an army of occupation – and force our withdrawal.”

Jon Monday