The lead editorial in the New York Times today asks some of the hard questions about Iraq. Yes, violence is down. But no, political reconciliation is far from being a done deal.
Consider this all too familiar horror: yesterday, police said they pulled six bodies from the Tigris River about 25 miles south of Baghdad. They were handcuffed and showed signs of having been tortured. And five, including a child, had been beheaded.Perhaps 160,000 American troops could hold down the overall casualty numbers indefinitely, but they cannot wipe away that sort of hatred.
The Bush administration has developed a habit of lowering the bar about every six months when it comes to "achievements" -- those pesky benchmarks -- in Iraq. In this respect, Bush is saddling America with the problem of what to do next.
Even after putting another 30,000 Americans in harm’s way, Mr. Bush still sees no need for a strategy to get all 160,000 troops in Iraq safely home. And as long as they know that this is the case, that Mr. Bush is willing to go on paying the bills — and protecting the Green Zone — Iraqi politicians will see no reason to compromise.
Americans need to ask themselves the questions Mr. Bush is refusing to answer: Is this country signing on to keep the peace in Iraq indefinitely? If so, how many American and Iraqi deaths a month are an acceptable price? If not, what’s the plan for getting out?
Another question or two need an answer. Is Iraq better off now than it was in 2001? Has America learned anything from the mistakes made by its leadership?
What grieves many Americans, in addition to the horrendous loss of lives in Bush's "mission accomplished" fantasy, is the fact that so few of our elected officials appear to have absorbed any wisdom after making such enormous mistakes. Their energies are spent instead on cover-up, self-justification and self-defense. The beheaded, floating child in the Tigris -- if they're even aware of that inexcusable happening -- is only a speed-bump on the way to holidays and then another round of political campaigns.
