I find that I am growing increasingly discouraged about the US’s ability to make significant progress in putting Iraq back together. Many of us thought that the invasion and the initial assault on Iraq (as ill advised as some of us thought that was) would go pretty well and that the heavy lifting would come with the military occupation and the transformation from military government to civil control to a real Iraq run by Iraqis. I had no idea that is would be this bad.
Consider that we seem to have all sorts of interests that have a stake in turning the effort to restore order and commerce and life in Iraq into a dog’s breakfast. In addition to the people who are in bed with Sadam’s regime, we have the Islamic fundamentalists who want to turn the place into a theocracy, the people who benefit from banditry and disorder and the people who’s nationalistic and patriotic sentiments lead them to just want the Americans out. Not only do we have a trickle of American soldiers and Marines killed in random shootings and shellings, we have water mains blown up, we have oil pipelines blown up, we have a water and electrical distribution system that barely worked before the war and is pretty much not functioning now. We do not have adoring crowds throwing flowers at liberating GIs. Instead we have a sullen populace that seems to be growing more restive and resentful with every day. We top the whole thing off with the truck bombing at the UN compound.
It is starting to look to me as if the only way this thing is going to be brought under control is to come down on the urban population pretty heavily—a squad of infantry on every street corner and machine gun bunkers at every intersection. I’m not sure we have the will to do that or that we should give up all our pretence of being liberators bringing democracy and justice to the good people of Iraq.
What does anybody else think? Do we have no more chance than of a tinker’s bitch? At what point do we see enough improvement that we declare Iraq to be rebuilt and get out? What was our objective in going in to Iraq in the first place? Have we accomplished those objectives? Can we accomplish those objectives? At what cost in blood and treasure and self respect?