The increasing deaths and injuries in Iraq demand explanations and
concrete plans to solve the problems, not more pie-in-the-sky statements
from President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. With more than 1,000
U.S. soldiers dead and others unable even to enter many cities, this is
not a time for pretense.
Cheney's comparisons Thursday between current events in Iraq and the
United States' 13-year struggle for a constitution and democratically
elected government following the Declaration of Independence are naive,
except as a reminder of how hard people will fight to evict foreign
troops. Nor is there much evidence to support Bush's claim that Iraq now
has a strong prime minister. The president's enthusiasm for elections in
January is genuine, but if the security situation stays this bad,
meaningful balloting will be impossible.
Iraqis blame U.S. soldiers and Marines for everything that goes wrong,
even when troops are nowhere near. When military expeditions do go awry,
as happened when a U.S. helicopter fired into a crowded Baghdad street
this week and killed more than a dozen civilians, the outrage is palpable.
Insurgents, buoyed by their success in turning cities like Fallouja,
Ramadi and Samarra into "no-go" zones for U.S. troops, increased attacks
this week even in Baghdad. The unity among common criminals, ex-soldiers
in Saddam Hussein's army and Muslims from outside Iraq is ominous. The
U.S. cannot declare any kind of victory until its troops or Iraqi
security forces can enter all cities. U.S. officials should give a
timetable, however rough, to meet that goal.
Also needed is a realistic schedule for training Iraqi security forces.
In April, when U.S. forces scrapped plans to assault Fallouja, the
Marines announced they would form an all-Iraqi force to restore order in
the city. But some Iraqi soldiers wound up working with guerrillas, and
last week the Fallouja brigade was dissolved. An attempt to recruit
police ended tragically this week when a bomb exploded amid a crowd of
Iraqis in line to join up, killing 47 people.
How many Iraqis are envisioned for an army or a police force? How long
will training take? How will they be protected during training and
afterward? How much will it cost? The administration already has
proposed diverting $3.4 billion of the $18.4 billion that Congress
authorized last November to rebuild the country to train security forces
and provide some jobs. Whether it will be enough is an open question.
It is tempting in a presidential election year to duck hard questions,
especially when earlier claims were wrong: Iraqi support for U.S. troops
ended quickly; no weapons stockpiles were found; not enough troops were
provided to secure the country. But Americans can handle bad news and be
patient if leaders explain the goals and how to achieve them. Pretending
all is going well when the evidence clearly shows that it isn't erodes
confidence in government.