The Escalation Didn't Work

The escalation failed to do the one and only thing it was supposed to do. The entire Iraq policy of George W. Bush has failed since the fall of Saddam Hussein's statue in Baghdad. No amount of parsing or spinning can change those simple facts: the escalation is and was the wrong answer.

I chaired a hearing on the GAO Report yesterday, the report that stated that Iraqi civilians overall aren't any safer, that the political benchmarks aren't being met in Iraq, that, in short, none of the rationales for the escalation in Iraq have come to pass. It unfolds with maddening, enraging regularity: the Administration claims goals for their policy, they gradually back off of those goals and substitute smaller, less easily measured goals, and then muddy the waters hopelessly on whether even those modest new goals have been met. Time and again we've been through this.

That's why the Congress set up some clear benchmarks to measure what's happening in Iraq. Mitch McConnell praised the "clarity" those benchmarks brought to the debate. "Just wait until September," they all said. "We put in these meaningful benchmarks, we can judge in September."

Well, how do they judge those benchmarks now? Only three of 18 have been met. Another four were "partially met," which sounds like a "Gentleman's C" if I've ever heard of one (and, for anyone who saw my college transcript, I have).

Judgment time is here, and the only verdict is the same one we had in January, the same one we've had for a long time in Iraq: the Bush policy is a tragic failure. It's a policy that not only isn't working; it can't work. A political solution in Iraq cannot come about without a clear deadline on where our troops will be pulling out. Only Iraqis can end this civil war, and they aren't - and won't be - making any progress with an open-ended, massive presence by our military in their country.

The White House has tried, with some success, to focus everyone's attention in the media on the report they are writing, the report they used to call the Petraeus Report. But, at least judging from press reports, unfortunately, this report already seems to be controversial and solely focused on military measures. (No surprise - now, thanks in large measure to some good old fashioned muckraking out here in the blogosphere, we know that even the so-called Petraeus Report will be written not by the General, not by our Ambassador in Baghdad, but by the White House-- the White House which has again and again avoided the kind of plain, unadorned facts discussed in the GAO report.)

Look, I know from experience that there's no such thing as a military solution to a situation like this, and no amount of "metrics" can create one. Our own generals have always confirmed this about Iraq. And by the way -- go read all of the statements at the time about the "reason" for the escalation - it was to buy political breathing room for Iraqis to compromise. Period. It hasn't happened. So it all boils down to the same thing: these are more "steps" that don't get you any closer to your real goals, "successes" that don't lead to any resolution.

This White House ran out of credibility on Iraq a long long time ago. This is not the first time we've been told one thing only to learn another (Weapons of mass destruction? Greeted as liberators? Saddam's oil revenue to pay for the war and reconstruction?), so, predictably, instead of an honest appraisal of the escalation, this White House is again moving the goalposts and shifting criteria-- and they are doing it as the moment of accountability arrives. Their response to bad news has been and continues to be: simply change the story. What they can't change is the fact that time is not on our side. It's wrong to sacrifice over 100 American lives each month for a policy we know is not working.

So here's where we stand: Republicans asked for clarity in this debate and swore up and down that, this time, they were serious. When September came around, they'd look at the facts and make a sober assessment on the merits of the policy in Iraq. Well, those facts are in. We need to keep up the pressure on them.

I'll be working continuously this month trying to set a deadline to force a new policy in Iraq. I'll try to stop by as often as I can this month with ways you can, if you choose, put the pressure on the Roadblock Republicans to force them to take a new tack. In the end, it's been sustained action by millions of activists that have gotten us this far, and it's only through the loud voices of those activists that we can get what's right - an end to the Bush doctrine in Iraq, and a policy worthy of our soldiers' sacrifice.

Comments

[mosh]

So? See you all in DC on the 15th?

[QuestionEverything1982]

kerry you could end this war right now. Cut the funds! show some leadership instead of playing politics. You think that if you cut the funds the dems would be blamed for the loss of the war in iraq, but that will only happen if you don't fight back against the right wing noise machine.

you voted for this war despite the facts known then that were bogus. dennis kucinich knew the rationale for war was bogus in 2003 yet you a senator with more resources did not get this and felt you could "trust" this president? that is why i did't vote for you in 2004. however you can do the right thing now.

it is time to ask "how do you ask a man to be the last to die for a mistake"?

[newsweek1945]

Oh, by the way, the media is The Mediocrity, all pardons to Marshall McLuhan...No substance, just pablum and force-fed spin. They have along way to go regain my credibility.

[newsweek1945]

It's a little late, but at least Kerry has chosen to shed the genteel image that did not serve him, or the AMERICAN PEOPLE, very well in the last "election(?)". This "surge" has been rightfully called what I have always called it, an escalation. The idiocy of the whole thing is that bush and the shrubs claim that it is working, and when it succeeds, we can then start a moderate withdrawal. Are'nt these paradigms mutually exclusive? More requires less, or Less required more, or, Oh Shit, I'm so confused. I guess that's why they make the big decisions and the big bucks!

[Plowboy]

Empire is a curse on any nation that takes that road. Eventually every empire expends more of its resources in the effort to dominate others than it gains from that domination. While a few "elite" prosper, the nation hollows out and is unable to sustain the strain. All empires fall in this manner. America will be no different.

[CharliePfromHB]

Here's an interesting proposition which inherently won't happen..re-instate the draft. The reason it won't happen is because the students would roll out on the street like a 60's flashback. Troop escalation only results in temporary de-escalations while the "enemy" re-trenches, literally. As England pulls back troops, unrest re-emerges. As we surge, they redeploy and wait. This is Ho Chi Minh 101. Back to the draft comment...which the lack thereof is behind the need for outsourced, corrupt privitization. So is the draft a bad thing in that it causes our young people and their parents to face the consequences of war? Is that the real reason for the relative apathy? $3+per gallon pisses us off, but appeasement by lowering prices to "only" $2.50 makes us think the surge is working? Meanwhile, Africa struggles with civil wars over water rights, when desalination is impracticle because of high energy costs. I repeat the question, it a draft really a bad thing? Is the under-resourcing of our troops and corrupt privitization just another reason to build more weapons of mass destruction? I wonder? We don't really think this kind of situation can just escalate to Iran without dire consequences? This isn't about terrorism, it's about power policies that try to cover up the failure of international diplomacy and pressure. It's time for the students to hit the streets, but in a non-draft environment, apathy and denial rules.

[bigbear]

NO MONEY- NO WAR!

[Diane237]

Somewhere in Texas a village is missing its idiot ! Support the troops bring them home. NOW ! Get the heck out NOW. Secure our own borders and inspect our own imports before we all die .

[standbycats]

All I can say is that our moron for a president should have been hung next to Saddam Huesein for crimes against humanity He is no better than that dictator , who five minutes ago he was shaking hands with.

I pray that the democrates have the balls to impeach the bush crime family. we can not rest untill that man receives some consequences for his crimes against the AMERICAN PEOPLE and the Iraqis, whose country and lives he has ruined in the name of oil and power.

[jcorrington]

I, too, thank you John for your integrity and hard work. I hated to see you drop out of the 08 race. We now need to see the Dems do something serious about this iraq debacle and start impeachment proceedings immediately. (altho it scares me to write such cuz I know "they" are watching). You go, guy!

[arizona4algore]

Bush's War plan was 'Shock and Awe'. I'm shocked and awed by the incompetence

I neither support having our troops there, nor training and supplying weapons to the Iraqis --either as a police force, or standing army. What Americans, both military & civilians, don't know about fighting in the Middle East, fills entire libraries. They don't need us to teach them 'war.' Terrorism is their 'war of choice,' and they know how to destabilize their world, and wear down our military -- just fine. With the US public's patience exhausted; a change of president & Congress, upon us; a military exhausted and stretched too thin; and, a complete failure to introduce the manufacturing infrastructure to retool our military hardware -- they are too close to their Mission Accomplished now.

Had the Supreme Court and Bush's brother not intervened in the election of Al Gore in 2008, we would not NOW be occupying Iraq and ignoring Bin Laden in Afghanistan. Al Gore is the only person with the necessary states craft and international stature to bring Iraq and its neighbours together to hammer out an end to the violence -- either with our army, or better still, without any American troops stationed in Iraq (and that includes Bush's private contractors army, as well).

Every declared presidential candidate has yipped about their personal plan to bring our troops home, and Bush has succeeded in stonewalling to perpetuate his war, precisely because the foundations of policy do not exist.

Our elected leaders in Congress, have not even put together a consensus of an elemental Vision for U.S. relations with Iraq (in the context of its geopolitical realities). Without that consensus of Vision, the country will remain mired in Iraq's sand as surely as we were mired in VietNam.

Without that Vision, no single group can produce a Mission of how to implement achieving it. And, only then can achievable, measurable goals be set to end Bush's War; to set upon a realistic course to bring any semblance of peace to Iraq; and, to get on to the business of protecting America.

[SGS]

To the Senator:

Following the Gen. Petraeus and Amb. Crocker propaganda briefing to America this coming week, I hope you will be present at the Iraq and Afghanastan Vet Rally to support grass root efforts to stop our misguided War in Iraq.

Bush was overheard this week in Australia saying that we are "kicking a__" in Iraq. This pseudo macho posturing in the face of all the death and destruction is just another example of how morally and intellectually challenged the president is.

[wallyinindy]

A war crimes tribunal should get under way immediately and put all the bush criminals in the dock to answer for their crimes against humanity. Only then will this nation regain its respect in the world.

[Lane]

Mr. Kerry,

In the event you actually read these posts, I have two messages I wish to give you:
1: I wish you would have fought the fraudulent election results (thank you Deibold!) and taken your rightful place as our President and
2: why have you not impeached GWB?????????? Why isn't there a gigantic poll of the American people to find out what "WE" want???????

[WigWamWag]

Why cannot the US war promoters learn the many obvious mistakes of Viet Nam?

That war like the Korean War and every war since was unnecessary. Many innocent lives are lost in the name of greed and war profiteering.

People might stop fighting, supporting, and promoting wars when the killing stops being highly profitable as a means of power and control with the dominance of ownership that is often related to the exploitation natural resources.

Killing others for no good reason (including profits and access to natural resources) is just senseless. The same force drives Wall Street and fuels globalization by multinational corporations.
Therefore, the many blind jingoists march on in hopes of huge economic benefit.