My View from Iraq
"Senator Pryor, are you optimistic or pessimistic about Iraq?" I get this question, or some variation of it, almost every day. Having just returned from Iraq, I’m not overly optimistic or overly pessimistic, but I want to be realistic about Iraq.
Many Arkansans have strong feelings about Iraq. Some want us to stay and some want us to leave. Most Arkansans want reassurance. They want a way to measure Iraq’s progress and setbacks. Arkansans want America’s leaders to put partisanship aside and make the best decisions possible for our troops and for the future of the region.
I believe that if we withdraw too quickly, Iraq will collapse into a nightmarish civil war. Iran, which openly supports terrorist organizations, will have a great influence on the outcome of that civil war. This could make Iran the central power in the Middle East. Iran’s growing influence requires sober judgment and steady nerves on the part of the United States. Iran is determined to become a nuclear power. It has already flexed its muscle in Lebanon and there is little doubt that it is helping the insurgency inside Iraq today. Iran is a major factor that complicates the challenge we face in Iraq. An unstable Middle East under Iran’s influence will have worldwide negative implications and will have a bearing on American security as well.
During my trip to Iraq, I met with a number of our key generals as well as the Prime Minister, President and Vice President of Iraq. These three top Iraqi elected officials impressed me with their determination to lead Iraq forward. One is Shiite, one is Kurd and one is Sunni - all three conveyed their belief that the factions in Iraq must work together to solve Iraq’s problems. I have come to believe that the nature of Iraq’s problems is not military, but political in nature and include elements of economic woes, historical hatred, sectarian crusades and a lack of respect for the rule of law. The US military cannot solve these problems, but it can maintain enough order in the near term to allow Iraqis to start solving them.
Iraqis must take responsibility for Iraq. They must know that the People of the United States have not made an open-ended commitment. Iraq came dangerously close to civil war this summer. I think this genuinely scared the country’s leadership and they re-committed themselves to turning their country around. I see glimmers of progress, but we cannot expect progress to come in a giant leap, but only in small, significant steps.
President Bush needs to be clear about his Iraq War policy. He needs to admit to mistakes made. This gives him needed credibility. I believe he should have been more patient in the beginning to build an international coalition, not to win the war, but to win the peace. Progress in Iraq has been stunted because it is perceived as a US operation and not a true international effort. The President should also provide the American people with measurable and achievable goals in Iraq so we can judge how it is going. The violence inside Iraq is disturbing, but it is not an accurate or complete measure of what is really happening there. However, as long as the President refuses to give us better ways to gauge success or failure, violence is the only way to quantify it.
We must never forget that we have Americans in Iraq putting their lives on the line every day. I met a Marine from Bentonville who works checkpoints in al Anbar province who exemplifies the pride and sacrifice of our troops. The same goes for the eight Arkansans who joined me for breakfast just outside of Baghdad. They were National Guard, Reserve and active duty. They were Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine. They do not want their service and the sacrifice others have made to be in vain. I don’t either.
If Iraq is to make progress, it needs our support. In Washington, partisans on both sides scream, "stay the course" or "cut and run." That rhetoric is not constructive for addressing the real threats in Iraq and the Middle East. I believe we should be focused on "changing the course" by handing over more responsibility to the Iraqi government as they are prepared to accept it. A strong Iraq means a better chance of stability in the region and Middle East stability is in our national security interest.
