Los Angeles Times
September 19, 2004
The increasing deaths and injuries in Iraq demand explanations and concrete
plans to solve the problems, not more pie-in-the-sky statements from President
Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. With more than 1,000 U.S. soldiers dead
and others unable even to enter many cities, this is not a time for
pretense.
Cheney's comparisons Thursday between current events in Iraq
and the United States' 13-year struggle for a constitution and democratically
elected government following the Declaration of Independence are naive, except
as a reminder of how hard people will fight to evict foreign troops. Nor is
there much evidence to support Bush's claim that Iraq now has a strong prime
minister. The president's enthusiasm for elections in January is genuine, but
if the security situation stays this bad, meaningful balloting will be
impossible.
Iraqis blame U.S. soldiers and Marines for everything that
goes wrong, even when troops are nowhere near. When military expeditions do go
awry, as happened when a U.S . helicopter fired into a crowded Baghdad street
this week and killed more than a dozen civilians, the outrage is
palpable.
Insurgents, buoyed by their success in turning cities like
Fallouja, Ramadi and Samarra into "no-go" zones for U.S. troops, increased
attacks this week even in Baghdad. The unity among common criminals,
ex-soldiers in Saddam Hussein's army and Muslims from outside Iraq is ominous.
The U.S. cannot declare any kind of victory until its troops or Iraqi security
forces can enter all cities. U.S. officials should give a timetable, however
rough, to meet that goal.
Also needed is a realistic schedule for
training Iraqi security forces. In April, when U.S. forces scrapped plans to
assault Fallouja, the Marines announced they would form an all-Iraqi force to
restore order in the city. But some Iraqi soldiers wound up working with
guerrillas, and last week the Fallouja brigade was dissolved. An attempt to
recruit police ended tragically this week when a bomb exploded amid a crowd of
Iraqis in line to join up, killing 47 people.
How many Iraqis are
envisioned for an army or a police force? How long will training take? How
will they be protected during training and afterward? How much will it cost?
The administration already has proposed diverting $3.4 billion of the $18.4
billion that Congress authorized last November to rebuild the country to train
security forces and provide some jobs. Whether it will be enough is an open
question.
It is tempting in a presidential election year to duck hard
questions, especially when earlier claims were wrong: Iraqi support for U.S.
troops ended quickly; no weapons stockpiles were found; not enough troops were
provided to secure the country. But Americans can handle bad news and be
patient if leaders explain the goals and how to achieve them. Pretending all is
going well when the evidence clearly shows that it isn't erodes confidence in
government.