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January 11, 2007 issue

Losing and Winning in Iraq

A guest editorial by Matthew Robinson, PhD

Although the ideas expressed in this column will surely not be popular, I offer them in the hope that they will be seriously considered and generate a healthy debate about the situation in Iraq, a situation created by US leaders and supported by a large majority of American citizens.

To begin, here are thirteen facts about the Iraq war. First, the Iraq war was planned by members of the Bush Administration long before it was initiated and even before they declared publicly that war would be a last resort. Second, several members of the Bush Administration called for the removal of Saddam Hussein—in writing—years prior to being employed in the White House.

Third, Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. Fourth, the Saddam Hussein government had no operational ties to al Qaeda prior to or after 9/11. Fifth, Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda were sworn enemies for reasons related to both religion and their views of government.

Sixth, the only group in Iraq with “ties to al Qaeda”—Ansar al-Islam—operated in the Northern no-fly zone out of the control of Saddam Hussein and within easy reach of US bombers without an invasion of the country. This group called for the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, as did Osama bin Laden.

Seventh, while it was widely believed that Saddam Hussein possessed very dangerous weapons—or at the very least had an active weapons program—no credible analysis suggested these weapons posed a threat to the United States. Eighth, information from the Central Intelligence Agency suggested the likelihood that Saddam Hussein would ever use biological or chemical weapons against American interests was very low because he knew that doing so would assure his destruction.

Ninth, in early 2001, both Condoleezza Rice and Collin Powell stated publicly that Saddam Hussein was not a threat to the United States or even to his neighbors because of the United Nations imposed sanctions that had been in place for a decade after the first Gulf War.

Tenth, US leaders used the 9/11 attacks as justification to seek out and compile knowingly false and questionable intelligence—often ignoring and removing any pieces of data calling the accuracy of this information into question—to make the case for war on Iraq.

Eleventh, the Iraq war is illegal, being both a violation of international law and the US Constitution. The war violates the United Nations Charter, which the US not only signed but also largely wrote! This makes the war unconstitutional because Article VI states: “This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land.”

Twelfth, the war on Iraq was unnecessary and is now an unfettered disaster. Nearly 3,000 US military personnel have been killed in Iraq, and approximately 655,000 Iraqis have died since the US-led invasion.

Thirteenth, Iraq is now in an all out civil war. The scholarly definition of civil war says that “warring groups must be from the same country and fighting for control of the political center, control over a separatist state or to force a major change in policy,” and “at least 1,000 people must have been killed, with at least 100 from each side.” Clearly, this is the case in Iraq.

Given these facts—each well documented—what are we to do? President Bush has used terms like “stay the course” and insisted that US troops will remain in Iraq until the “mission is complete” (this is more than three years after he stood before a large banner atop an aircraft carrier declaring “Mission Accomplished”). President Bush is wrong. Staying is a mistake. In fact, the war has already been lost. Even top military leaders have testified to Congress that there is no military solution to the war.

And so I am reminded, yet again, of Vietnam. In the documentary, The Fog of War, former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara states that he and President Johnson knew that war in Vietnam could not be won with military action long before US forces were withdrawn from the country. At this point in the war, approximately 25,000 US troops had been killed. By the time we left the country, 58,000 US troops had died.

When asked why the US did not end its commitment to Vietnam when they knew they could not win, McNamara replied that President Johnson thought that withdrawing US troops would send the wrong message to the enemy and the rest of the world. Sound familiar?

In Vietnam, 33,000 US military personnel died after we knew we could not win there. So, how many more soldiers, marines, sailors, and airmen will die in Iraq for a war that is already lost? Almost 2,500 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Saddam Hussein was captured, more than 2,000 Americans have been killed since we transferred authority to the democratically elected Iraqi government, and more than 1,000 Americans have died since Dick Cheney said the insurgency was in its “last throes.”

President Bush has said that to leave would dishonor the dead. Does he mean that more of our fathers, sons, brothers, mothers, daughters, and sisters must die for nothing so that those fathers, sons, brothers, mothers, daughters, and sisters who have died for nothing do not die for nothing? In my opinion, what dishonored the dead was sending them to Iraq in the first place to die for nothing. As a professional criminologist, I simply cannot think of a worse crime.

President Bush has said that we will stay in Iraq because leaving would produce a failed state in Iraq, a breeding ground for terrorists. Yet, a memo prepared for Condoleezza Rice (reported by Bob Woodward in his book, State of Denial) says that Iraq is already a failed state, and we see every day that Iraq is already a breeding ground for terrorists.

What created this situation was our invasion of the country, plain and simple (e.g., there was no “al-Qaeda in Iraq” until after we invaded). And as long as we are there, terrorists will flock to the country and we will continue to inflame hatred all over the world against the United States.

What I am calling for is a radically different course of action. I offer the following six ideas as a starting point. First, President Bush should apologize to the American people, the US military, and the rest of the world for creating a disaster in Iraq and putting our country at greater risk of terrorism over the long term. He should also acknowledge the deceit involved in the lead up to the war. The process of reconciliation requires an acknowledgement of wrongdoing.

Second, Congress should impeach and convict President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for “high crimes,” which include their abuse of power and serious misconduct while in office. Stated simply, justice demands that this occur.

Impeaching Bush and Cheney would send the signal to the world that we American citizens are truly sorry for what we have done. It would also provide evidence that Congress is ready once again to serve as a check and balance on presidential power.

Third, before he leaves office, President Bush should immediately withdraw all US troops from Iraq. He should tell the Iraqi government that we will come back if they want us to, with the support of the Iraqi people, but only if they make progress toward stabilizing the country and ending their own civil war.

Fourth, the new president should use what leverage the United States has left to help build a truly international peace-keeping force, led by Arab nations, to root out terrorists in Iraq. These troops can be deployed by the Iraqi government under the umbrella of NATO rather than the Pentagon.

Fifth, the new president should enter the US into a global discussion to find solutions to the problems that generate terrorism. He or she should commit the US to a position of a neutral, fair broker for issues such as the Israel-Palestine conflict, the proliferation of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, as well as other threats to human survival (such as global warming).

Sixth, the new president should redirect US defense dollars and war spending to rebuild countries devastated by our wars. Let’s tell the world we’re sorry and then show them how sorry we are by putting our money where our mouths are.

Let’s give the governments in Iraq and Afghanistan the hundreds of billions of dollars we’re spending on military operations there to rebuild the countries. The people there will embrace democracy and reject terrorism when they begin to live decent lives.

The most important of these initiatives is to get our men and women serving in the military in these countries home. The war is lost. The only question left now is how many more Americans will die before we finally do something about it.

 

Matthew Robinson is associate professor of criminal justice at Appalachian State University. He teaches and conducts research about crime and criminal justice and is the author of several books.