Defense “Cover” in the Political War

Gen. Peter Pace, Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff, made some interesting and telling comments in a recent post-election interview regarding Iraq policy. Pace will be meeting with the bipartisan Iraq Study Group headed by James Baker and Lee Hamilton. President Bush has been forced [grudgingly] to concede that the American public has repudiated his handling of Iraq policy. Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld has been neutered and removed from power. Pres. Bush turned to the seasoned pragmatist in his father’s Cabinet to undertake a review of Iraq strategy, as a potential face saving way to change direction from his disastrously inept “Stay the Course” mantra. In an example of Pace’s current attitude, he stated the following: "We need to give ourselves a good, honest scrub about what is working, what is not working, what are the impediments to progress, and what should we change about the way we're doing it."

While Bush insists that the election will not force him to change his "Victory in Iraq" strategy, he now is quick to point out that he recognizes the need for changes in “tactics.” In an apparent departure from his bull headed [apologies to all bovines] and arrogant approach prior to the election, Bush now seems willing to at least listen to military experts whose advice differs from his own agenda. Those same experts have previously been dismissed as “cut and run” sympathizers by the Bush-Cheney-Rove cabal.

Perhaps the most beneficial effect of the US mid-term election with regard to the quagmire in Iraq is a new “openness” for dialogue and a greater opportunity to apply expert, reasoned and intelligent strategic analysis to the problem. These military policy experts of all political stripes, and those of non-partisan persuasion, now have political cover to express their opinions without fear of immediate dismissal from their posts by a micromanaging megalomaniacal Secretary of Defense. All agree that the situation is so badly messed up that there are no easy or quick solutions. However, the country has lost faith in the Bush cowboy rhetoric of “Victory” and has generally turned to the more rational goal of “resolution.” Arguably, if the latter had been in mind from the beginning, the situation would not have turned so dire. That is, of course, hindsight. Generals Pace, Casey and Abizaid can now openly discuss strategies for stabilization of the situation and extrication of US troops while minimizing the risk of further casualties. Few believe that the US can effectively determine or prevent the possibility of civil war in Iraq. That decision is and always has been one for the Iraqi people. Debate over whether the US presence has been an irritant and facilitator of sectarian strife or an ineffective buffer that has retarded the descent into all out civil war is academic as long as our presence remains.

The central question is whether the Iraqi government and the Iraqi people are invested enough in salvaging their country to attempt to work together, no matter how tense the alliance, to establish and implement a central government capable of controlling sectarian violence and rebuilding the country’s infrastructure. The election signaled a defeat of the Bush Strategy in the “political war” against rational and intelligent strategic analysis. The Defense experts now have “cover” to come forward and provide their ideas and advice regarding how to fix the mess created over the past three and one-half years of incompetent leadership by Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld. The Iraq problem has never truly been connected to, much less a "central front" in, the illusory and mythical "War on Terror," except in the deluded mind of Pres. Bush. Only by de-linking these two politically charged issues and permitting the experts to focus on the specific issues and problems relating to the Iraq occupation can we hope to find a rational and feasible resolution to US engagement.

The degree to which President Bush continues to try to obstruct this progressive turn should determine how aggressively the new Democratic led Congress has to push for immediate and thorough investigation of the massive corruption and incompetence in the Bush Administration’s handling of Iraq to date, including possible war crimes. We should hope that such political firefights will not be necessary to maintain the necessary cover for the Defense experts to develop and implement an effective strategy to get US troops out of an Iraq war that was neither legal nor necessary.