Bush says: Things are moving along well
Iraq's Grim Spiral: Bush Refuses to Acknowledge Dire Situation
The Register-Guard | Editorial
Thursday 28 October 2004
Some days it's hard to imagine how the news from Iraq can get any worse, although it has a way of doing just that with unsettling regularity.
On Monday, The New York Times reported that U.S. forces failed to secure 380 tons of high explosives that may have been looted by insurgents. The types of explosives are so potent they can be used to detonate nuclear weapons and have been linked to large-scale terrorist attacks.
Two days earlier came news of the massacre of 49 unarmed Iraqi soldiers who had just finished basic training. The killings gave credence to an Iraqi security official's estimation that insurgents have infiltrated up to 5 percent of the country's security forces, and prompted Prime Minister Ayad Allawi to blame the U.S.-led coalition for "great negligence" in failing to protect the recruits. Meanwhile, a militant group called Army of Ansar el-Sunna posted photos on a Web site showing 11 captured Iraqi guardsmen.
All of this undermines President Bush's blithe insistence that Iraqi soldiers and police officers are gaining strength and will soon be able to assume security duties from U.S. forces. With large sections of the country under control of insurgents, it's hard to imagine how the Iraqi government and coalition forces can provide the stability and security essential for successful elections that the United States has pledged will take place by the end of January - just three months away.
Foremost among the cities under rebel control is Falluja, which serves as the power base for Abu Musab Zarqawi, Iraq's most prominent and deadly terrorist leader. Zarqawi has claimed responsibility for the weekend's attack on recruits and has been linked to numerous bombings, as well as many of the high-profile kidnappings and beheadings that have occurred in recent months.
Whether Falluja is eventually retaken or not, Iraq has become a war without a front or easily identifiable foe. The enemy can appear anywhere, even inside Baghdad's green zone - the fortified enclave used by U.S. military command, Iraq's interim government, foreign embassies and aid workers. Car bombings have become a daily occurrence, claiming the lives of U.S. soldiers, Iraqi security forces and civilians. More than 1,100 U.S. soldiers have died in combat in the last 19 months; more than 8,000 have been wounded.
On top of all this comes a report this week that the Bush administration plans to ask for $70 billion in additional emergency funding for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, bringing the total war costs close to $225 billion since the invasion of Iraq early last year.
Against this backdrop of unrelentingly grim news, both Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney continue to insist that freedom is on the march in Iraq. On the campaign trail in Ohio on Monday, Cheney declared Iraq to be "a remarkable success story" for which the president "deserves great credit."
Bush's opponent, John Kerry, has been underwhelming on the topic of Iraq. He has been unclear on whether he believed Saddam Hussein's regime posed an imminent threat to the United States. He has criticized the president for undermining the war by failing to commit enough troops, then has said he would start bringing U.S. troops home within six months after taking office. While Kerry has said that will be possible if allied troops shoulder more of the burden, it's far from clear that Kerry can succeed in convincing European leaders to send their young men and women off to fight and die in Iraq.
But Kerry has one huge advantage over Bush, and that is his willingness to recognize the situation in Iraq for what it truly is - a rapidly deteriorating crisis that is teetering on the brink of chaos. Bush has yet to demonstrate that he grasps either the reality of what is happening in Iraq or his mistakes and miscalculations that helped create that reality.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/103004K.shtml