Eugene Robinson: The Surge Turns Into the Stall [View All]

[babylonsister]

The Surge Turns Into the Stall

By Eugene Robinson
Friday, April 11, 2008; Page A21


No, it's not your imagination: The "debate" about Iraq, and I use the word loosely, becomes ever more surreal as the occupation drags on.

I don't blame Gen. David Petraeus or Ambassador Ryan Crocker for their stay-the-course recommendation this week on Capitol Hill. Generals and diplomats should do what our elected leaders tell them to do -- having covered South America, I can attest that the alternative is not pretty -- and George W. Bush is indeed the Decider when it comes to Iraq policy. For now, at least.

Of course, Bush long ago lost any credibility with Congress and the American people on Iraq. It's understandable that he hides behind Petraeus's breastplate of medals and Crocker's thatch of gray hair, sending these loyal and able public servants to explicate the inexplicable: What realistic goal is the United States trying to achieve in Iraq? And in what parallel universe is this open-ended occupation making our nation safer?

Even the most basic question of any war is undefined: Who is the enemy? It was almost painful listening to Petraeus as he faced reporters yesterday and was asked whether Moqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army were friend or foe. His tortured answer, translated into English, was yes.

In 2003, when Bush launched this elective war, the enemy was Saddam Hussein's wack-job regime. The dictator and his minions were quickly defeated, but then U.S. forces faced two new enemies -- al-Qaeda in Iraq (which we created by invading the country and destroying its brutal government) and a popular insurgency based in the country's Sunni minority (ditto).

Having midwifed these monsters, the Decider told us we had to stay in Iraq to slay them. What actually happened, though, was that Sunni tribal leaders, many of whom were participants in the anti-American insurgency, decided they had had enough of the al-Qaeda fighters' Taliban-like ways -- and also saw that they were in danger of being marginalized by the Shiite majority. This so-called Awakening began before Bush's troop escalation, which was artfully labeled a "surge." It's not going out on a limb to predict that the Awakening will last precisely as long as the Awakened believe it is in their interest.

more...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/10/AR2008041003270.html