ISSUE: Assessing the Iraq war

OUR VIEW: President should embrace new strategy in Iraq

Sen. Lindsey Graham continues to be a defender of Bush administration policy in Iraq. He contends the troop surge is working and this past weekend was a leader in disputing the latest assessment by a former military commander that U.S. policy in Iraq is failing.

The South Carolina Republican attacked retired Army Lt. General Ricardo Sanchez's public statements that the war is "a nightmare with no end in sight. Sanchez is the former top commander of American forces in Iraq.

"After more than four years of fighting, America continues its desperate struggle in Iraq without any concerted effort to devise a strategy that will achieve victory in that war-torn country or in the greater conflict against extremism," Sanchez said.

"National leadership continues to believe that victory can be achieved by military power alone," he said. "Continued manipulations and adjustments to our military strategy will not achieve victory. The best we can do with this flawed approach is stave off defeat."

Speaking to CNN, Graham responded: "I'm astounded, really,'' assailing Sanchez's Iraq war analysis and continuing his adherence to Bush's strategy, arguing that "finally," with the surge of U.S. troops since January, "We are getting it right."

That is not the assessment of a number of military leaders other than Sanchez, who is the latest to speak out.

In January 2007, a panel of retired generals told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that "sending 21,500 additional troops to Iraq will do little to solve the underlying political problems in the country.

Gen. Joseph P. Hoar, a former chief of the Central Command, said: "Too little and too late. The solution is political, not military."

Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, who commanded troops in the first Gulf War, called the surge: "A fool's errand."

Lt. Gen. William E. Odom, a former director of the National Security Agency, said: "The American effort in Iraq has gone badly because the United States did not understand the consequences of deposing Saddam Hussein."

Retired Maj. Gen. John Batiste: "The president vetoed our troops and the American people. His stubborn commitment to a failed strategy in Iraq is incomprehensible. He committed our great military to a failed strategy in violation of basic principles of war. His failure to mobilize the nation to defeat worldwide Islamic extremism is tragic. We deserve more from our commander-in-chief and his administration."

Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton: "This administration and the previously Republican controlled legislature have been the most caustic agents against America's armed forces in memory. Less than a year ago, the Republicans imposed great hardship on the Army and Marine Corps by their failure to pass a necessary funding language. This time, the President of the United States is holding our soldiers hostage to his ego. More than ever apparent, only the Army and the Marine Corps are at war - alone, without their president's support."

The harsh assessments certainly aren't reassuring to a nation that is ready for a solution to the war in Iraq. And no matter how Graham and others assess the troop surge, it is obvious the military effort will not be enough in Iraq. There must be a political solution to the factional fighting -- and that solution does not appear to be forthcoming.

More than ever it is time to push forward with a revised strategy in Iraq. Our troops are not going to be leaving Iraq soon regardless of decisions about the surge. They will continue fighting -- at least for now.

Diplomats must fight as hard for a solution inside Iraq. Delaware Sen. Joe Biden's long-standing plan to see Iraq partitioned into Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish zones in a loosely aligned national structure is the best chance of success. It should be embraced by President Bush and his allies such as Sen. Graham.

Ex-Commander Says Iraq War is an Endless "Nightmare"ush War

Washington, DC - This weekend the former top commander of American forces in Iraq condemned President Bush's failed Iraq policy and said the result was "a nightmare with no end in sight" [NY Times, 10/13/07].

Retired Army Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez also called the Bush administration's handling of the war "incompetent." Sanchez is the sixth - and most senior - commander to speak out against Bush's handling of the Iraq War.

His remarks brought a quick rebuke from the White House, which swiftly dispatched surrogates - including Republican Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain - to attack the former senior Iraq commander for questioning the war.

"Lt. Gen. Sanchez is joining a long line of former U.S. commanders who have come forward to tell the truth of how President Bush undermined his command and belittled the sacrifices men and woman in uniform make for our country every day in Iraq," said Americans Against Escalation in Iraq spokeswoman Moira Mack. "Instead of attacking the man appointed by the President to command our forces for speaking the truth about the mess in Iraq, the White House should listen to General Sanchez and all the retired generals who are urging a change in course."

GOP Attack Generals Who Speak Against Iraq War

Senator Mitch McConnell continued his denial of the war's reality, telling reporters simply that Sanchez is wrong and that the "surge is working." McConnell still thinks "we're making significant progress" in Iraq. [ABC News, 10/14/07]

Senator and candidate for President John McCain questioned why Sanchez hadn't spoken up while he was an active duty officer. He told a crowd in New Hampshire "The fact is I had face to face discussions with Gen. Sanchez when he was in Baghdad about how I believed that the strategy was failing, and he testified before the Senate armed services committee that the strategy was succeeding- the flawed [Donald] Rumsfeld strategy that I knew was doomed to failure." [ CNN, 10/13/07]

Bush Says Maliki Should Remain In Power: "The briefing comes a day after President Bush defended al-Maliki in a speech in Kansas City, Missouri. 'Prime Minister al-Maliki's a good guy -- good man with a difficult job and I support him,' Bush said. 'And it's not up to the politicians in Washington, D.C., to say whether he will remain in his position.'" (CNN, 5/23/2007)

National Intelligence Experts Disagree: "Civilian casualties remain high, sectarian groups can't get along, al Qaeda in Iraq is still pulling off high-profile attacks and to date, Iraqi leaders remain unable to govern effectively, says the declassified version of the National Intelligence Estimate released Thursday. The intelligence community briefed the media on the assessment hours after senior Bush administration officials told CNN the classified version of the report expressed doubts that Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is able to lead the war-torn country. The report concludes that al-Maliki may not have the ability or capacity to 'push forward' legislative reforms." (CNN, 5/23/2007)

Bush Says Troops Are Seeing Progress; Troops Disagree

Bush Says Troops See Progress in Iraq: "Our troops are seeing this progress that is being made on the ground. And as they take the initiative from the enemy, they have a question: Will their elected leaders in Washington pull the rug out from under them just as they're gaining momentum and changing the dynamic on the ground in Iraq?" [AP, 8/23/2007]

POLL AFTER POLL, AND STORY AFTER STORY, SHOWS TROOPS ON THE GROUND AND MEMBERS OF THE MILITARY OVERWHELMINGLY DISAGREE

New York Times/CBS Poll of Troops: Two-thirds of troops and their families think things are going badly in Iraq. This represents a dramatic increase from just a year prior.

Military Times Poll Of Troops: Only a third of troops approve of the President's handling of the war in Iraq, which represents crumbling support from past polls. Nearly 75 percent say the military has been stretched too thin by President Bush. Those troops who think there can be a military success in Iraq has plunged by 30 percent.

Zogby Poll of Troops: A Zogby International Poll found that 72 percent of troops on the ground in Iraq thought the US should get out within a year, in 2006.

Officers In Iraq, Independent Findings, Say Progress Has Not Been Made: Despite claims by those who support the failed policy of the Bush administration in Iraq, U.S. officers in Baghdad offer a "bleak" view of the situation in Baghdad, which is often cited as an area the surge is showing results. According to McClatchy Newspapers, officers say, "they've yet to see any signs of reconciliation between Sunni and Shiite Muslims." Additionally, since the surge, "U.S. casualties reach[ed] the highest sustained levels since the United States invaded Iraq nearly four and a half years ago." As far as claims that fewer Iraqis have died since the surge, the news reports, "The number of car bombings in July actually was 5 percent higher than the number recorded last December, according to the McClatchy statistics, and the number of civilians killed in explosions is about the same." (Detroit Free Press/McClatchy, 8/15/2007)

Seven Infantrymen And Non-Commissioned Officers In Iraq Say Surge Is Not Making A Difference: Seven members of the 82nd Airborne in Iraq say that the surge is not making a difference overall, Iraq is not moving closer to political reconciliation, and it's time to let Iraqis handle their own matters and help from the margins.

In a NY Times Op-Ed the soldiers wrote: "Viewed from Iraq at the tail end of a 15-month deployment, the political debate in Washington is indeed surreal... To believe that Americans, with an occupying force that long ago outlived its reluctant welcome, can win over a recalcitrant local population and win this counterinsurgency is far-fetched... We are skeptical of recent press coverage portraying the conflict as increasingly manageable and feel it has neglected the mounting civil, political and social unrest we see every day. (Obviously, these are our personal views and should not be seen as official within our chain of command)." (NY Times, 8/19/2007)

Bush Says Democracy Will Stabilize Iraq; His Own Military Commanders Disagree

Bush Says Democracy Can Flourish in Iraq: "The ideals and interests that led America to help the Japanese turn defeat into democracy are the same that lead us to remain engaged in Afghanistan and Iraq," Bush said. (AP, 8/23/2007)

Senior Military Commanders Disagree: "Officials now say they are willing to settle for a government that functions and can bring security. Some senior U.S. military commanders suggest privately the entire Iraqi government must be removed by "constitutional or non-constitutional" means and replaced with a stable, secure, but not necessarily democratic entity." (CNN, 8/22/07)

Petraeus and Crocker Say Non-Democratic Alternatives Should be Pursued: "For the first time, U.S. generals talk openly of non-democratic governmental alternatives, and Gen. Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker conceded they are 'now engaged in pursuing less lofty and ambitious goals than was the case at the outset.'" (CNN, 8/22/07)

Democratic Institutions Might Not Be The "Way Ahead": Brig. Gen. John "Mick" Bednarek said, "Democratic institutions are not necessarily the way ahead in the long-term future." Iraqi institutions, from the infrastructure to the national government, are widely regarded as ineffective in the fifth year of the war. (CNN, 8/22/07)

Goals Might Not Include Democracy: Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, said "I would describe it as leaving an effective government behind that can provide services to its people, and security. It needs to be an effective and functioning government that is really a partner with the United States and the rest of the world in this fight against the terrorists," adding that he will not be perturbed if such goals are reached without democracy. (CNN, 8/22/07)

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