If Democrats Remain Silent on Iraq Now, They Will Pay a Stiff Price in November

Although Election Day is still eight months away, this is a crucial moment in the 2008 campaign. While Clinton and Obama trade blows, the Republicans are slowly winning the war over the war. And Democrats are doing very little to stop them.

The idea that the surge is working and that the U.S. is making progress -- the self-declared make or break issue of John McCain's candidacy -- is taking hold with the public. A recent poll by the Pew Research Center found that nearly half of Americans -- 48 percent -- believe that the military effort in Iraq is "going well." This is an 18 percent jump from a year ago.

Along with the White House and McCain, who pounds the "surge is working" drum at almost every campaign stop, we can thank the media for much of this shift. Over the last seven months, there has been a massive 80 percent reduction in the amount of coverage devoted to the war. And this lack of attention has taken a profound toll: a new study found that public awareness of U.S. deaths in Iraq has plummeted since August 2007, when 54 percent of the public was able to say how many American soldiers had been killed in the war. Now, just 28 percent are aware that the death count is about to reach 4,000. Chilling.

So McCain and the White House PR machine are able to promote the myth of success in Iraq without much pushback from the media. Or from Democrats. Indeed, the most lasting "opposition party" image of the last few months regarding the surge is Hillary Clinton springing to her feet at the State of the Union when the president declared "Ladies and gentlemen, some may deny the surge is working, but among terrorists there is no doubt." Is there any wonder the public is confused?

The fact remains: the surge is not working. Indeed, it is an abject failure on many fronts.

It has failed in its primary mission of creating an atmosphere of political reconciliation. Even when the fractured Iraqi government is able to set aside its differences -- as it did last month, agreeing on a budget, setting dates for provincial elections, and approving amnesty for thousands of jailed Sunnis -- there is grave doubt about whether these agreements would ever be implemented. While hailing the passage of the provisional powers legislation as "a landmark law," Gen. Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker -- not exactly impartial observers -- warned that there could be poison pills hidden in the fine print. But even counting these measures -- passed because most of the contentious details were tabled for a later date -- only four of the 18 benchmarks set by the White House have been fully met, with another five only partially accomplished.

Yes, the number of attacks has decreased since the troop increase -- that was inevitable with the arrival of more boots on the ground. But the improved security has not, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office, created an environment conducive to ordinary business and social activity -- and has not brought any real stability to the country.

And while lower than it was at its worst, the level of violence remains very high, with around 60 attacks a day on U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians. This is roughly the same as was occurring in the Spring of 2005. So, in the long run, things have gotten no better over the last 3 years. As Barack Obama put it during a debate at the end of January:

"The notion that somehow we have succeeded as a consequence of the recent reductions in violence means that we have set the bar so low it's buried in the sand at this point... We went from intolerable levels of violence and a dysfunctional government to spikes and horrific levels of violence and a dysfunctional government. And now, two years later, we're back to intolerable levels of violence and a dysfunctional government. And in the meantime, we have spent billions of dollars, lost thousands of lives."

If this message is to penetrate the drumbeat of "the surge is working," he needs to be repeating it everyday -- not just when he's asked about it during a debate.

Here's the bloody truth: the killings and the violence are increasing again -- with another 18 people killed by a car bomb attack in Baghdad on Thursday, while Tuesday saw deadly attacks all across the country: 16 people blown up on a bus between Basra and Nasiriya, 10 killed in Kut, 5 in Duluiyah, and killings reported in Karbala, Baquba, Hilla, Mosul, and Baghdad.

There has also been an increase in U.S. casualties, with 12 Americans killed in the last four days.

There is one area, however, where the surge has been a resounding success: it has succeeded in seriously damaging the capabilities of the U.S. military. Extended tours, abbreviated stints back home between deployments, stop-loss orders, lowered recruitment standards, declining sign-ups, 158,000 troops in Iraq, another 28,000 in Afghanistan, depleted equipment, vets' families coming apart at the seams, and even 121 returning soldiers being arrested for murder. It's a recipe for a military meltdown.

"The cumulative effects of the last six-plus years at war," Army chief of staff Gen. George Casey told the senate last month, "have left our Army out of balance, consumed by the current fight and unable to do the things we know we need to do to properly sustain our all-volunteer force and restore our flexibility for an uncertain future."

At the same hearing, Army Secretary Pete Geren summed up the situation: "We are consuming readiness now, as quickly as we're building it."

Just as the Athenian army was lost in the quarries of Sicily, the American army is being lost in the deserts of Iraq.

All of which puts the onus on Democrats to forcefully, unequivocally - and immediately -- make the case that the surge is not working. If not, the numbers of Americans looking at Iraq with McCain-provided rose colored glasses will continue to rise -- while the chances of getting real change in November will rapidly fall.

Follow Arianna Huffington on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ariannahuff

Comments

[GPAYTON]

I'M TRYING TO E-MAIL THE IRAQ ARTICLE TO A COUPLE OF FRIENDS AND
I KEEP GETTING AN ERROR. AS FAR AS I CAN SEE, I AM FILLING OUT
EVERYTHING O.K. CAN YOU SUGGEST SOMETHING THAT I MIGHT BE
DOING WRONG, SO THAT I CAN STILL SEND THAT E-MAIL... IT IS AN
EXCELLENT ARTICLE!!!!! I'VE ALREADY SENT IT TO SOMEONE B-4
AND HE LOVED IT TOO.

[daddysboy]

I don't think the quote you used from Obama sounds like remaining silent; while I agree that it's impact may have been minimal in contrast to the landslide of propaganda being thrown at every American every day, I really don't want to see the candidates repeating themselves any more than they already are. Those that are aware of the American military and foreign policy failures in the middle east haven't changed their point of view in the least despite the efforts by some to push a false vision of reality on the public. Blatantly false media sources should simply be ignored, not responded to; that's what got us in trouble in the first place. Obama is smart to only comment when the forum is balanced and open; not when the News Corporation has the upper hand and can twist every word into unpatriotic blasphemy.

[Kirby]

Those who induced and led this administration into the preemptive Iraqi war want desperately to make it seem a success. Their U. S. media is mongering this "victory." The propaganda is being promulgated and is being bought by the people. We will, in due time, strike out at both Iran and Syria, on Israel's urging and behalf. to make it safer for its expansion. And barring a wake-up on the part of Americans as to what is really taking place, we will also see the resultant financial chaos screw us to the sticking place, as we continue to hear that there is no relationship between trillions spent in this needless Iraqi conflict and the diminishing value of the dollar, which in turn has affected the stock markets here and around the world. What disastrous folly this whole Iraq thing has been. I recall the courageous speech given on the floor of the Senate by West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd to contain and stop this madness.. Would to God, all would have listened. Bush, Cheney, their neo-con leaders, all, should yet be held accountable for what they have done to our country!

[DesertDivine]

Economics alone should get us out of this elective war. Remember when young men used to join the military and come out with skills like being cooks and mechanics? Now Haliburton and other war profiteering companies do all of that. Our young men are only there to fight and die so that the rich war machine can be fed.

The LA Times had a great op-ed today about the cost of the war. Three to four trillion dollars does not take into account all the damaged people we are going to have to take care of for the next forty years. This war was brought to you by "The Office of Special Plans" inside the Pentagon, consisting of a handful of Bush/Cheney cronies. They should all pay for the war crimes they have committed and the lies they told to get us into this war. If this is not high crimes and misdemeanors, what the hell is?

[army193]

Our you kidding me Hillary doesn't want to talk about the war...Everyone claims Obama is too soft and when he does reply which is more than not he is accused of being negative...Its Hillary or John is her motto...Obama will win, the movement of change is too strong and will of the people will not be denied.

[bushandcheneymustgo]

But sadly obama and the democrats will not win in november, if they don't do the right thing

Impeach bush and cheney, save this country right now, before it's too late.

[darker]

Americans must GROW UP and STOP drinking REPUBLICAN KOOL-AID.

Americans resemble those sexually abused--SC­REWED--who are IN TOTAL DENIAL
and keep kissing up to Republican ABUSERS.

[Taan]

Don't look for movement in Iraq while Bush is in the White House. Too many Republicans (and some Democrats) will refuse to abandon the man's suicidal urges and the tragedy will continue to unfold until a new Administration can get things turned around...As for the imploding economy, like a tank descending a mountain and out of control, it will take a long time to get this fixed. Too much is at stake for any single economic patch. The future of this country is not going to look much like our past and many will suffer the consequences of ill-conceived government activity.

[speakingtruth2power]

Joe Bidden for Secretary of State! Democrats need to show we have quality, depth and real unity.

Regardless of who wins in Denver, the key cabinet posts must be a major part of the campaign.

Who do the rethugs have in political leadership positions that are not proven thieves & perverts?

We should show America that the Democrats have really great people and big promises to keep.

Populism is the cure for corporatism and John Edwards as our Atty Gen would make it very clear

that Democrats are serious about change. Under either candidate, I want to see Bill Richardson

as our VP both for his experience and to bring Hispanics solidly into the party that represents US.

Webb at Defense, Sibellus at Interior, and at least two more competent women also couldn't hurt.

Before anyone screams about triangulating, I ask, do you want to see John W McBomb, Preznut?

[tubette]

LOL!! Well said...

[Jerry4Obama]

I don't care what that poll says. Every professor at my university is teaching otherwise, this war is as unpopular as ever, and no amount of Obama-Clinton drama is going to change that. Any American who thinks this war is going well, is as un-informed as the Bush administration would like you to be. Innocent people, women and children, are dying every day...still. Yeah, it's going real well over there. By the way, ask the C.I.A. if we're any safer since 9/11, the short answer is: "HELL NO!!!" Screw your polls, and screw anybody who still supports this war.

[Ragtimer]

LIzM:
You are absolutely right about Sen. Joseph Biden. I as one blogger, promoted Joe many times here.
Responses here where bias or ignored. Sad but true is that I predicted exactly what is happening now to Obama and Hillary. The Repucks are playing the Black card. And the 71 one year old is playing the old school view of trickle down economics to justify the war. The War is about money flow in the US now, even though it's undeclared as such.

On the Black card, that round-about 50% support for ending the war is the same as the 50% supporting the war. In order for Democrats to gain any control of the governement they need a bunch of "Party switchers" from the repubucks to come over. But with te level of bigotry in the camp "it ain't gonin to happen". Now optimistic as the "youger generations" are about Obama, they just don't understand that the Boomer generations are larger in numbers and carry with them the power of volume of votes (and stupid denial too).

The media is to blame for all failures to end the war because those that control the same are the money mongers that support the archaic trickle down view of capitalism. That means, as I believe, they embrace war because as Truman said (or Eisenhower) "war is good for the economy". ("Trickle down is a myth"). Well. we all know where that has lead. Of course McBush , and GW are supported by the media at blaming the failing economic model on the housing market. But if you really believe that all is lost for sure.

The fact of the matter is George W. Bush is an irresponsible CEO of another Corporation (The Untied States of America) that he has run into the ground (Michael Moore told you so, but again no one listened!) by blattant neglect and (not mis management but) WRONG MANAGEMENT. He must be made accountable. And if the people of the United States don't UNITE and force Impeachment of Bush and Cheney nothing that happens in the new regime will really change except the wall paper of spin and distraction as to what needs to change in this country.

So if the Demos don't start addressing the end of the war BY IMPEACHMENT and reinvestigation of the 911 cover up (which it is otherwise nothing would need to be kept a secret "for national security!) , nothing will change regardless of whom is elected. The reason being is that no real "Change" can happen if the letcherous instilling of "no Accounability" and false flag politics, a "patriot Act" that has nothing to do with patriotism, No habeaus corpus, citizen spying, torturer, Spinning lie after lie after lie, and keep ing the truth away from mainstream medai will all go on and on.

I suggest each and every one personally send Bush his Pink slip with no severence pay. AND freeze all his and cheney's financial reasources until time when justice for the country has been served.

[LizM]

Certain bloggers, who must remain nameless, have been content to remain silent about SEN. JOESEPH R. BIDEN, JR., the only Democratic candidate who understood Iraq and what was going to be required to conduct a responsible withdrawal of US forces without leaving a failed state behind. But, they are far from alone. The rest of the blogosphere, national media, electorate and the Democratic (sad excuse for) leadership were also more than content to ignore, and otherwise dismiss, the leader among Democrats with impeccable and unimpeachable credentials on issues pertaining to national security, foreign policy and the constitution - credentials which were wholly unmatched by any of his presidential rivals. And, we are ALL paying a stiff price for it NOW, and will be paying that price for no small amount of time to come.

This post really gives whole new meaning to the concept of irony...where were certain bloggers when the only candidate who spoke endlessly and intelligently about Iraq, and who had developed a strategy over the course of the last several years to bring that fiasco to a responsible end, was asking for support? You were dismissing his candidacy, ignoring his warnings about current Iraq policy and, apparently, not at all interested in his comprehensive strategy to promote and facilitate (not impose or dictate) a sustainable political settlement based on federalism and the Iraqi constitution (not partition) which would bring the warring Iraqi factions together to engage in tough negotiations to determine their own political future in a serious effort to achieve an accommodation that they could all live with.

Why did you all remain silent? Where was the media? Where was the blogosphere? Where was the electorate? You were all consumed and distracted by more important matters, apparently, and remain so today

[Janskats]

You are so right, Liz M..and no small coincidence, I'm sure, that Joe Biden is the only one I've heard discuss what the "Awakening" is really all about (albeit too briefly, on This Week, two weeks ago).

Bush, McCain and Petreaus would have us believe that the "Surge" has been soley responsible for diminishing terrorism in Iraq..that the alleged drop in violence has been due to the McCain-advocated increase of troops. Now, McCain and the rest of the Bush administration wallow in their seeming "success". In fact, quite conversely, it is the "Splurge", not the "Surge", which has been responsible for any decrease in the attacks upon our troops. The administration has gone to great lengths to avoid admitting that they have paid and continue to pay out millions in extortion money to the Sunni Chieftans.­.seventy-f­ive million alone to the recently assassinated, "manufactured" Sunni leader Abu Reeshi..to stop their attacks on our troops.

When pressed to address this at all, the commanders refer to this incredible payout of money as "construction funds", yet the "funds" do not go toward constructing anything, let alone infrastructure or job security for Iraqis. The Sunnis, however, have succeeded in using this money to build up a tremendous cache of armaments..with no guarantee that said arms will not ultimately be used against us once again, not too far down the road. Without this bought and paid for agreement to cease their assault, our increased troop buildup would have little effect on the pervasive growth of such attacks, as evidenced over the last five years. On the Shiite side of the equation, Abu Al Sadr's equally temporary truce is doubtless tempered by an equally magnanimous arrangement.

The point here is that there has been no "Awakening"..no "going into the light", no "conversion of hearts and minds" toward some mutually beneficial goal of hope and brotherhood for all Iraqis, binding them together with the U.S. in loyalty and purpose..there's just a very costly and transitory buyoff of a large group of self-interested mercenaries, who would as easily shoot us in the back with our own weapons, as not, when the money runs out. The whole thing is nothing more than an election-year sham..more smoke and mirrors from Bushco and John Disdain. How many times do we have to be bamboozled by these crooks, before we wake up, folks?

[starboymikey]

Ironically, the illusion of "success" in Iraq could wind up working against the Republicans. The way things are looking, the apparent success of the surge is putting Iraq low on the list of concerns in November for most voters. Instead of "security" it is the economy that is moving front and center. And this is where Democrats have the home court advantage.

For the Republicans to retain the White House, they will have to make "security" the number one issue again. I suppose war with Iran would do that, but it could also backfire if an attack goes badly.

[Dyogenes]

"Al-Qaida in Iraq, which did not exist as a coherent group before U.S. troops invaded in March 2003, probably now numbers no more than 6,000, according to U.S. intelligence estimates. It may have been closer to 10,000-strong before the severe pummeling it took last year, when it lost its main bases of Sunni Arab support. It controls no cities but is still active in pockets through much of central and northern Iraq...."

How much longer before the US comes to grips with the absolute folly of our MidEast policies and our Anti-Terrorism policies? For every terrorist killed by the Hawks, minions more have been created by the ill-will engendered by our ruthlessness indifference to the impact of US policies on ordinary people who have NO political agenda, who just want to work and enjoy a simple life with family and friends, much as we do here in America. After all the politicians--from McNamara to Kennedy to LBJ-- decided that Vietnam was bad policy for the US and that we must extricate out troops, almost 48,000 MORE American soldiers died in Viet Nam (from c. 7600 in 1968 to over 55,000 on the black memorial wall)--not to mention the countless civilians that died, and the costs to our economy, rampant inflation etc. of the early l970's.

The US government does NOT need to be fine-tuned. It needs to be overhauled and re-tooled.

We are seriously on a BAD PATH in the US.
Blind patriotism is NOT the way out; jingoism and ethnocentricity and race and religion and gender bating are compounding our already difficult problems and blinding situation.

We have lost our center, our heart, in this country: a growing, prosperous, hardworking middle class.

We have lost our focus on what is truly important: family and friends feeling secure in the sanctuary that matters most, our home.

Who among the three POTUS wannabes left standing is most inclined to have the wisdom to see these basic truths, and the courage and the judgement and the charisma to pull it off.
To actually lead our nation beyond the divisiveness of identity politics; and to execute a new social contract based on that old American precept: the Greatest Good for the Greatest Numbers.

Who can and will Keep it Real. Who can and will lead not only the middle, but can and will talk to the zealots on the fringe and bring them into the fold so that there is Less to Fear and More to Enjoy for us all. Extraordinary times require extraordinary leaders. This is a Big Moment. Either we choose mindfully, or we continue to decline into dilettance and discord. Either we address our war and economy issues head-on, or continue to wallow in the scintillating distractions of sex, race and ungodly religious banter.

[skyle]

Iraq? What about Iran? Does anybody realize that Cheney is going to bomb Iran BEFORE the election thus causing an assured McCain victory and Republican move ?
Let's see: John Hagee endorsement, Fallon firing, Cheney visit to Israel tomorrow.
Need I say more? The press and Huffington has said nothing of this strategy. Paranoid? Are you kidding?

[LizM]

The Cheney Master Plan For Iran?

Have you heard of a little known beltway master plan that would take care of Iraq, Iran, and the entire region in one fowl swoop...one very, very 'foul' swoop.

This grande regional strategy, which has been dubbed "the Darwin principle", is based on the survival of the fittest concept and finds its origins in the Vice President's office, if not with Mr. Cheney, himself. The theory behind this strategy goes something like this...

"The Darwin Principle, Beltway version, basically says that Washington should stop trying to get Sunnis and Shiites to get along and instead just back the Shiites, since there are more of them anyway and they're likely to win in a fight to the death. After all, the proposal goes, Iraq is 65 percent Shiite and only 20 percent Sunni. Sorry, Sunnis.

"Darwin? Try Machiavelli. An even more far-fetched offshoot of the Darwin Principle is floating around, which some hawks have tossed out in meetings, although not seriously, one administration official said. It holds that America could actually hurt Iran by backing Iraq''s Shiites; that could deepen the Shiite-Sunni split and eventually lead to a regional Shiite-Sunni war. And in that, the Shiites -- and Iran -- lose because, while there are more Shiites than Sunnis in Iraq and Iran, there are more Sunnis than Shiites almost everywhere else.

"Wow."

Wow, indeed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/17/weekinreview/17cooper.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Helene+Cooper%2C+the+Darwin+principle%2C+Cheney&st=nyt&oref=slogin

[iratior]

LizM, I think that the Bush administration's actions in Iraq have already had the effect of siding with the Shi'ites in the Sunni-Shi'ite conflict. The de-Baathification policy adversely affected the Sunnis disproportionately. The police training program resulted in the creation of a force that was overwhelmingly and discriminatingly Shi'ite. Now Iraq is becoming a Shi'ite-dominated police state, in which Sunnis are treated as second-class citizens at best and as targets for police death squad murder and mulcting otherwise. Sunnis who fight back against this discrimination are hunted by the U.S. military as well as by the Iraqi government. Baghdad used to be mostly Sunni; now some journalists say it is mostly Shi''ite, because of all the ethnic cleansing that has taken place. Millions
of people have become refugees. People have proposed impeaching Bush for various reasons, some more justified than others, but Bush's action of taking sides in a religious civil war and enabling one side to commit atrocities against the other is really one for The Hague.

[RobertHewson]

Re: Trading Blows, Unity and Division

From today's "Head of State"
http://headofstate.blogspot.com/2008/03/kosi-fan-tutte.html

Saturday, March 15, 2008
Kosi Fan Tutte: Unity and Division

Thus do they all.

A few thoughts:

There is a time in the life of a new movement when limbic outrage combines with the glimpsed promise of a new and expanded platform. The initial rush from nonentity to prominence has carried them forward together, but standing on that platform, however low or small, the view creates a burgeoning space in the self--a place of surprised importance--first that their voice is heard, then a question of deserving such a place, which becomes affirmed with each passing day that they hold their new small staff--a place where the narcissism of small differences can take over. "Can I?" The internal voice asks. So close to the emotions of the initial rush of emotions, which were felt together, this new rush of emotion must be right. If they can...if they did...if we did...so can I!

Thus do half-formed, ill-considered second revolutions often take place. The first wave was too heady to consider the splinters of emotion, ambition, pride, and how these might combine with actual ideological difference. The move forward was collective, as was the new degree of influence--but the experience of power, however slight, was individual, and could be triggered into the disparate directions seen all too often in the impulsive spatters across time that we, if noticed, call history.

The impulse--anger, wounded narcissism--comes first, quickly followed by a now slightly practiced, or at least slightly observed, ambitious idea. It is then that words and concepts are appropriated, to provide apparent substance and heft to the initial reaction--"strike" or "abuse"; "freedom" or "censorship"; or, in other similar cases, "patriotism" and "nationalism".
Thresholds are set and described after the reaction--a post hoc "it was too much" "we have had enough." Such justifications provide a new form of heady reaction--perhaps the impulse, raw and initially unmitigated, now propped up by the buttresses that follow, not only feels good...but is right!

In such ways does unity often fall apart. The smaller purposes--which we must, we must put forward upon principle, rarely consider the larger principles to which they, often moments before, were firmly committed. It creates the seemingly paradoxical but historically common situation in which a small excitement is able to fully cover a larger objective to create a blind spot, a canyon into which the blinded march with excitement, until the excitement passes, and they survey the terrain around them. We have seen this in 1917, in 1946, in 2002--three examples among countless manifestations across time. Such splinterings typically lead the electorate to search for solid ground in the midst of seeming chaos under "strong", "solid", "traditional" leadership.

Many of those who would today march into the canyon are those who decried Ralph Nader's 2000 stand--who saw the narcissism within the "principled stand", and the larger consequences that such blindness could create.

We have lived under 7 years of an Administration that can be plausibly credited to the excited, impulsive acts, narrowly bounded by limited justifications beyond which was a willed sea of darkness, of that time.

Now, in the acts of a group still fresh with the sense of a new and unexpected influence, we see this phenomenon again: moving impulsively into action, without providing even a full consideration of what it is that they call their act (a "strike" like those taken by workers who give up their jobs and pay?); without providing the evidence upon which they base their claim (to demonstrate the "abuse" would only be to repeat it--or to demonstrate their similar use of language against those that they found unsuitable or unworthy); and without--or perhaps, excitedly, with--a consideration of the consequences.

We see much of the media drawn towards similarly small differences. One such example, as cited in today's LA Times:

CBS CEO Les Moonves "is cheered by the fact that the Democratic race is continuing and that John McCain is raising lots of money to combat the eventual Democratic nominee. 'That's music to our ears,' Moonves said. 'We want this to be as long and as dirty as humanly possible.'"

However, online leaders, at the very least, are subject to considerably fewer constraints, such as shareholders and ratings, than major media, and have considerably greater latitude to shape and drive a new dialogue towards substantive change.

With self-importance comes actual importance. With excited, elevated action comes consideration of and responsibility for the actions.

We should all be proud of the force that we, collectively, have brought to bear on an electorate that, only a decade before, was far less informed on issues of political and personal consequence. The ease with which our voices can reach into the world can create a more powerful unity of purpose towards overarching goals that we share--or a greater and more rapid ability to splinter amongst our smaller differences.

Take a deep breath. Recognize and appreciate the importance and impact of your role--with the human responsibility that your impact now has, and without the tendency towards defense and excitement that exists in all of us. Consider your stand. Ask what you really want for yourselves and for others in the next four or eight years.

A quickly and tenuously built stand can provide a temporary, if illusory, exhilaration. However, a considered and firmly built platform provides a view that lasts for years, can see over and past the canyons--and beyond for many miles.

Cite:
Head of State
http://headofstate.blogspot.com/2008/03/kosi-fan-tutte.html