It’s been over a week now since the release of the Iraq Study Group report. The basis of the report is that the situation in Iraq is “grave and deteriorating,” and that there is no workable military solution. The report states that the only path with some potential for success is a joint diplomatic/political venture involving Iraq’s neighbors. Iraq Study Group Report
The bipartisan panel includes heavy-hitters from both sides of the aisle: a former Supreme Court Justice, two former Secretary of States, a former Attorney General, a former Defense Secretary, a former White House Chief of Staff.
Study Group CompositionAccording to recent polls, the public is firmly behind the findings of the report.
In the results of a Washington Post/ABC News poll released today, 46% of all Americans support the findings of the report, while 22% oppose it. 52% of Americans believe we’re losing the war in Iraq, and 79% favor putting American troops in support, not combat roles. And most importantly, 69% of all Americans believe all US troops should be withdrawn from Iraq by early 2008. Poll Results
Clearly, Americans are extremely dissatisfied with the way Bush has handled the war, and they want things changed. The common perception is that the “You goddamned heathen people will have a democracy if we have to kill each and every one of you,” approach has horribly failed. There is no military solution in Iraq.
So, how has Bush responded?
At first when the report came out, it seemed like the White House was at a loss. The Commission included powerful friends of Bush’s father – James Baker and Lawrence Eagleburger, and also included conservative icons such as Ed Meese and Sandra Day O’Connor. As such, there was no real way Bush could just brush off the findings and dismiss them out of hand.
After a few days of barely restrained contempt for the report and noncommittal platitudes about what the President would do with the recommendations, the White House finally put together what they figured was a workable strategy: they’d find their own experts – who would tell them precisely what they want to hear – and in doing so, they’d be able to refute the findings of the Study Group report.
But then when this obviously transparent effort didn’t engender the support the White House had hoped for, the President shelved making a decision until after the first of the year – hoping perhaps that the public sentiment will change with time – or that people will forget.
I strongly suspect public sentiment will not change – because things are getting worse in Iraq every day.
By any and all definitions, Iraq is square in the middle of a civil war. Hundreds of Iraqis die every day. The country is in turmoil. The presence of our troops just exacerbates the problems. And as long as we’re there propping up this puppet government, the civil war will continue – endlessly.
But it doesn’t have to.
If we withdrew our troops tomorrow, there’d be a short, probably very bloody continuation of the current civil war, and then the Shi’a would win and it’d be over. Iraq would finally be at peace.
Unfortunately, having the Shi’a in control is the one outcome that is completely unacceptable for George Bush.
Bush defines victory in Iraq as leaving the country with a functioning, democratic government. That’s all well and fine, but what he really means, is that victory is leaving the country with a hand-picked puppet government in-charge that will do whatever Bush wants.
That sort of plan didn’t work at all in Viet Nam, it’s not working in Afghanistan and it won’t work in Iraq.
If a clear majority of the Iraqis want to live in a Shi’a controlled theocracy similar to Iran, then that’s their right. They’ve lived that way mostly for the last several thousand years, and it seems to work for them. Who the hell are we to impose our form of government on them? That’s tyranny!
The American public has spoken – it’s time for a major change of direction in Iraq. Americans want to end the conflict. Let the Iraqis control their own destiny. The US soldiers must all come home – and soon.
And so here we now have George Bush casting around, still looking for “experts” that will bolster his failed military solution. Looking for a way to continue his perfect little war.
In the context of a normal employer/employee relationship, if the employer gives clear, concise, understandable orders and the employee willfully subverts those orders and proceeds in a completely different direction, then that’s gross insubordination and gross misconduct. An employee who willfully disobeys a direct order would generally be fired.
In the context of the Iraq crisis, if George Bush will not listen – if he persists in trying to cram a military solution down our throats – then the American public is left with but one solution.
We must fire George Bush.