Every time I hear George W. Bush insist that we must achive victory in Iraq, I cringe. Because he's very, very wrong. Victory in Iraq is a wholly inappropriate objective, and it is a reflection of the dim grasp of reality that the neo-con worldview accomodates that "victory" remains a viable objective.

This does not make me a defeatist. Quite the contrary. The reason military victory is the wrong objective is, because we accomplished victory 3 weeks after the invasion. Remember? It was in all the papers. Three weeks in we'd accomplished our military objecvites: we had taken Baghdad, toppled Hussein and the Ba'athist regime, and won the war.

This part-- what has been going on since then-- is called the post-war reconstruction. It has been going very badly. Largely because, for some inexplicable reason, the president seems to think the objective of post-war reconstruction is some sort of military "victory."

It isn't. The objective of post-war reconstruction is, well, reconstruction. This involves things like establishing the government, shoring up the country's infrastructure, stabilizing the economy, re-establishing relations with neighbors and trading partners. Does any of this sound to you like a job for the military?

(By the way, its worth a look at the Google results for "post war reconstruction.")

The Bushanistas are fond of sayiing that Iraq is "the central front in the War on Terrorism." This is the bunk. It is the central front for Al Qaeda, not because of the strategic importance of Iraq to them, but because Iraq is where Americans have shown up and invaded an Arab country. If we pulled out of Iraq tomorrow and invaded Yemen, the fact of our presence there would make Yemen the "central front in the War on Terror." Because we are the shit, and the terrorists are the flies; the War on Terror follows us wherever we go, not vice versa.

With regard to the insurgency, of course, APW readers are astute enough to realize that insurgents are a response to occupation. The insurgency is a consequence of our military victory, not an impediment to it. The only "victory" that will eliminate the insurgency is recoonstruction and American departure.

This is why the Democrats (and most thinking Republicans) advocate getting out of Iraq. Because almost everyone-- except the administration, and those who take their world view whole from the administration-- understands that you don't accomplish reconstruction by waging war on it.

Labels: The politics