Americans are growing increasingly concerned with the course
of events in Iraq.
There is plenty of validation for worry; every day we are bombarded with news
streaming out of Iraq
showing continued violence and increasing insurgency. Action, rather than apathy,
should be the mantra of Congress in our goal to
bring a free and democratic nation to
the people of Iraq. However, the debate over our policy in Iraq is so
mired in partisan politics that reasonable conversation is almost impossible.
Those who contend that America
invaded Iraq for the sake of
cheap oil or for votes have only had their views further radicalized by the
continuing violence in Iraq.
At the same time, many that supported the Bush Administration’s Iraq policies
have come to see even the most
legitimate criticism of those policies as nothing more than a partisan attack.
There is little ground for negotiation between the stubbornly entrenched camps
and the rest of America,
which is left increasingly disillusioned with the entire discussion.
Nonetheless, there is common ground. We all want our troops to come home. We all want to
see a stable, nonviolent Iraq.
We all want America
to be safe. In what do we put our
hope then? Is there a plan that will ultimately lead to
these objectives? There is.
We must recognize that the victors
in war are generally those that are best able to
adapt to evolving circumstances. It
is obvious that many of the best laid plans are out of date the minute bullets
start flying. Those who demand an itinerary for victory
– with charts and graphs and dates – are either naïve or are just playing
politics. Regardless of one’s views of whether the United
States should have invaded Iraq
in the first place, all can see that an abrupt American withdrawal would be devastating
to Iraq and would only embolden those
like Osama bin Laden who point to
past American retreats as evidence of weakness and vulnerability. The three
democratic elections held in Iraq
speak to the progress we have made
and are continuing to make. We cannot simply declare victory, or defeat, and go home at a time picked out by
politicians in Washington.
While an exact date for an American troop withdrawal would be disastrous, there
should be milestones in the goal to help Iraq achieve independence. Perhaps
the most important work being conducted by American forces in Iraq today is the training of Iraqi defense and security
forces. The more effective the Iraqi army and police force, the less American
troops will be necessary to maintain
control of the country. Our military generals on the ground in Iraq have a
sophisticated approach for rating the capabilities of trained Iraqi troops, and
as more and more Iraqis are trained to
higher levels, more American troops can be pulled back. This milestone approach links the gradual drawdown of American
troop levels to the buildup of Iraqi
troop capability – as more Iraqis can do the work, fewer Americans will be
needed.
An accurate assessment of Iraqi capability must go far beyond raw fighting
ability. It must evaluate factors such
as logistics and maintenance in order to
paint a complete picture of Iraqi readiness to
defend itself. Iraqis must be able to
not only fight but refuel. Can they get supplies to
the battle space? Is their equipment up-to-date
and easily re-supplied? Our military professionals use four categories to grade Iraqi capability, and the ability of Iraqi
forces to sustain themselves is no
small part of the consideration.
The American people want to know
that there is a strategy for bringing our troops home, but it cannot be a
strategy of retreat or for abandoning our goals in Iraq. That strategy should not be
left to be decided by partisan
politics in Washington. Our uniformed military officers set the
criteria for determining the capability of Iraqi troops. Only they possess the
expertise to determine how many
Iraqis need to be trained and to what levels before American troops can begin to withdraw. Only when those training milestones are met would a withdrawal begin, in manner
that would be determined by the circumstances on the ground. And most
importantly, the troop drawdown would not be a signal of American retreat, but
rather an indication that the Iraqis are ready to
shoulder the load of their own security. This would represent the
accomplishment of our goals, and a defeat for the forces of terror.
Political efforts to force a swift
American withdrawal should be resisted; however the Department of Defense
should be more open with respect to
its assumptions. The American people need to
know that there is a plan for withdrawal in place and that its execution is
already well underway. Without revealing sensitive details that might
jeopardize our people, the Bush Administration should clearly define a milestone-based plan for Iraq in terms that will reassure
all Americans our presence there is not a quagmire, that there is a strategy
driving American policy, and that the training of Iraqis is leading directly to the withdrawal of American troops.
