Observing the back and forth exchange of rhetoric from both the Obama and McCain campaigns in recent days about their respective Iraq war policies, I couldn’t help recalling a familiar strategic refrain that was first articulated by George Bush back in 2005. Speaking at the White House on the one-year anniversary of the transfer of sovereignty in Iraq to a transitional Iraqi government, he said this:
“The principal task of our military is to find and defeat the terrorists. And that is why we are on the offense. And as we pursue the terrorists, our military is helping to train Iraqi security forces so that they can defend their people and fight the enemy on their own. Our strategy can be summed up this way: As the Iraqis stand up, we will stand down.”
For years now, this catch-phrase has been faithfully reiterated by the Bush administration as the cornerstone of its Iraq policy. And guess what? By all accounts, the Iraqis are standing up. Here, for example, is a report from the Sunday Times earlier this month:
American and Iraqi leaders believe that while it would be premature to write off Al-Qaeda in Iraq, the Sunni group has lost control of its last urban base in Mosul and its remnants have been largely driven into the countryside to the south. Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq’s prime minister, who has also led a crackdown on the Shi’ite Mahdi Army in Basra and Baghdad in recent months, claimed yesterday that his government had “defeated” terrorism.
It’s become apparent both from Prime Minister Maliki’s recent statements as well as through numerous other assertions from senior Iraqi officials that they’re quite comfortable with the idea of a timeline for the withdrawal of American combat forces by sometime in 2010 and a move towards a much more limited set of missions and presence, but Bush and McCain’s response seems to be: “you’re not ready yet.” In fact, today when asked about Maliki’s call for a timetable, McCain condescendingly dismissed Maliki’s concerns saying “I know what they want.”
After waiting for Iraqis to assert themselves for five years, you would think that Bush should be seizing this moment. In many ways this is one of the key elements for “success” — an Iraqi government eager to step up and take control of its own country. It’s extremely difficult therefore to understand why McCain wouldn’t welcome this statement. Perhaps having had no sense of what victory is in Iraq or how to define one, now that it’s staring them in the face, Bush and McCain simply don’t believe it. They’ve fought for so long to keep American troops there, that they now see any withdrawal as defeat – even if it isn’t and even if it comes at the request of the Iraqi Government.
5 Comments
July 22, 2008 at 10:18 pm
Wonder who’ll they’ll rent the US embassy out to ?. Too bad Sadaam’s gone.
July 23, 2008 at 4:37 am
Vietnam syndrome… wait for ‘peace with honor’ if McCain wins…
July 23, 2008 at 5:03 am
I believe he’s already sounded a note similar to that, only it involves “victory” and the troops “returning with honour”…
Um, like they can’t already do that?
July 23, 2008 at 6:09 am
When I hear McCain constantly talk about winning I think of that saying – pride falleth before the horse.
I can’t stand Donald Trump – but he did say some time ago that the troops should come home – he said the goal was to get Saddam Hussein, they did that, call it a win and come home.
July 23, 2008 at 8:32 am
They may just have been surprised. The extent of Iraqi’ success in recent months have surprised most observers. Some of those still insist that the Basra offensive was a failure salvaged only by an Iranian sponsered ceasefire.
I think the Americans are still trying to catch up in their assessment of Iraqi capabilities, while the Iraqis are possibly overestimating their own. Based on their recent successes, who could blame them.