I thought there might be some interest in this new interactive feature
introduced today on the LA Times editorial pages.
Following the editorial is a link to an experimental “wikitorial”. The Times will also introduce "Thinking Out Loud", another
interactive experiment they describe as “making
up our minds in public”; starting with two national issues,
immigration and traffic, especially important to Southern California: space
will be devoted in all precincts - editorials, Op-Eds, the Sunday Opinion
section, to explore aspects and alternate views of these subjects.
Another feature in the communication revolution made possible by
technology will be something called Framework, where fundamental principles
underlying a policy debate will be featured. These will be archived on the
website (latimes.com/opinion) and also separately outline by subject matter.
The overall goal is to evolve a coherent and consistent political philosophy,
freely accessible to the public, and impeding those who would stifle debate.
- KwC
LA Times Editorial, June 17, 2005
War and Consequences
As
the war in Iraq grinds on and the number of U.S. troops remains stubbornly
fixed at 140,000, murmurs of dissatisfaction at home become louder and more
widespread. Republican members of Congress have joined Democrats in questioning
how much longer the troops will have to stay. Colonels and generals estimate
two years, perhaps longer. Polls indicate an increasing public unease with the
war.
For his part, President Bush said last month he is "pleased with the
progress" in Iraq, citing its national elections in January and the
ongoing training of its military. Yet Baghdad experiences a car bombing just
about every day; in all of 2004, there were 25. The elections may have
represented progress; the violence does not.
The president's assessment represents either ignorance or optimism — perhaps
both. But it is hardly helpful to recite yet again, more than two years after
the war began, the sorry litany of the Bush administration's failures in Iraq.
What's needed is a clear timetable of goals and a specific set of consequences.
The Bush administration should publicly set a target for the number of Iraqi
soldiers and police who will be trained, equipped and capable of defending
their country by July 1, 2006. That means troops able to protect their
positions and go on the offensive against their enemies, with enough guns,
bullets and tanks to do the job. If the objective is not reached, Defense
Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld should be fired, along with the top U.S. military
commanders in Iraq.
No one has been held accountable for the blunders, from the
bad intelligence before the war to the failure to provide sufficient troops
during the conflict and since. Fixing responsibility is long overdue.
This is preferable to a precise timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops, as
two Republicans and three Democrats in the House called for in a resolution
introduced Thursday. That could encourage the insurgents simply to wait it out.
And definite, public targets allow for more accountability than the current
strategy, which amounts to "when they're ready, we'll come home." The
quote is from Bush, and the "they" he is referring to is the Iraqi
army.
If it all sounds familiar, that's because it is. A year ago, on the eve of a
handover of government from a U.S.-led authority to a U.S.-installed
transitional Iraqi regime, this page said that once the Iraqis had a new
constitution, an elected government and sufficient security forces, the U.S.
should withdraw its troops. Today, the attempt to write a constitution proceeds
fitfully; on Thursday, Shiites and Sunnis reached a compromise that may allow
the Iraqi National Assembly to meet its Aug. 15 deadline. There is an elected
government, though it is supposed to be replaced after the constitution is
written.
As for security forces, the record is abysmal. It is clear that Iraqis are
years away from protecting themselves from fellow citizens and foreign invaders
alike.
Meanwhile, more than 1,700 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq, more than $200
billion has been spent, and the insurgency remains strong. A Gallup poll
released Sunday found that 59% of Americans said some or all troops should be
withdrawn. In April 2004, the figure was 37%.
Some who supported toppling Saddam Hussein also are
wondering when the administration will face reality. Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr.
(D-Del.) and Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) went to Iraq several weeks ago and said
that the administration has to reflect what generals with their boots on the
ground are saying: U.S. troops will be needed there for perhaps two more years.
Biden, Weldon and others in Congress will have to make their own judgments
about the validity of the numbers the administration produces. The
administration says about 170,000 soldiers and police have been trained, and
next summer's target is 270,000. But U.S. forces in Iraq, and experts who have
visited there, laugh at those claims. Too many Iraqi troops have deserted, been
overrun or are so poorly equipped that they should not be counted as trained
forces. There is no lack of interest among Iraqis, who brave car bombs and
rocket attacks to stand in line and enlist. The task is turning the enlistees
into soldiers.
The United States will not be alone in training the troops. The North Atlantic
Treaty Organization said last week that it will open a base near Baghdad to
train 1,000 Iraqi officers each year. The front-runner to become Germany's next
chancellor says Germany will train Iraqis; Biden says the French have told him
they've offered training, but the U.S. has not taken them up on it.
Determining the strength of the insurgency is difficult. Last July, Pentagon
officials were estimating a core force of 5,000, but the U.S. majors and
colonels in Baghdad, Tikrit, Fallouja and elsewhere estimated the figure at
three times that many. Not knowing the strength of the insurgency makes it more
difficult to know how many counterinsurgent troops are needed. It may well be
that the U.S. will not need to train as many troops as some claim; many
commanders say that a relatively small number of crack troops would be better
than a larger force of inept fighters. As for police, one rule of thumb is five
to 10 officers for every 1,000 in population, meaning 100,000 to 200,000 for
Iraq.
Guerrilla attacks have forced the U.S. to shift money from reconstruction to
security and have crippled progress on repairing electrical lines, water plants
and sewage treatment facilities. That has increased the misery for Iraqis. A
May report by the U.N. Development Program and the Iraqi Ministry of Planning
and Development Cooperation presented a list of complaints about a lack of
utilities and a disastrous roster of infant mortality, malnutrition and
injuries.
The inability of Iraqi forces to stop the carnage has kept U.S. forces in Iraq
longer than the Bush administration planned or hoped. The extended deployments
have made Army recruiting tougher and weakened the Army Reserve and National
Guard. The ability to respond to crises elsewhere has been diminished.
U.S. involvement in Iraq, at such great cost in American lives and dollars,
cannot remain as ill-defined and open-ended as it is now. The administration
must set explicit benchmarks to determine when U.S. forces can leave. Bush
should be honest with the American people and the Iraqis. That requires setting
realistic goals and holding people responsible for them.
Click here to Wiki this morning's editorial about
Iraq.
(For FWers using text only, http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-wiki17jun17,0,6698799.story?coll=la-news-comment-editorials)
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-iraq17jun17,0,800552.story?coll=la-news-comment-editorials
