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

[terryb]

anyone remember PNAC.? they are not building the largest embassy in world, and all those permanent bases to leave all that oil to the iraqies. this is permanent. plain and simple.

[danielmcvicar]

This is another example of how the Bush administration is extending the war so the profiteers can continue to raid the treasury, while innocent Iraqis and brave soldiers die.

Please, Senator, stop this war.

[byondprakrti]

Civilians not any safer AND LESS OF THEM!

Political benchmarks? What a joke. Each city has its own political actors, malitia and or army. Iraqy police and army are planting roadside bombs against the U.S. occupiers.

I am getting this from P.B.S. and NPR.

One thing for sure, the further up the food chain you go, the larger the lies, missleading statements and I am tired, good night.

[Advocate123]

You voted for the War.

[ellisink]

Me? Actually, I didn't....­.I live in Canada. I didn't vote for the war in Afghanistan, either.

The "war" in Afghanistan is no more legitimate than the war in Iraq, by the way; the terrorists there were part of the US great game!

[ellisink]

I'm increasingly coming to the conclusion that this administration is illegitimate.

However, my problem with the "surge" and with "benchmarks" and "winning" is that I can see no way to win an illegitimate occupation. Both the UN and The German Federal Administrative Court have declared it so.

Since the US presence is only ensuring that the strife continues and that more civilians die in bombings, it is past time to leave...an­d to pay the bill.

[stevesrant]

Bush did not start this war. Congress started this war. Republicans and Democrats alike. Every one of them knew why we really went there. Every one of them knew what would happen when we went. Every one of them knows why we will always be there to some degree.If they didn't, and don't, then they are as naive as the voters who elected them.

[littleblackcat]

You might be right that bush didn't start this war, but cheney, rumsfeld, & wolfowitz did. bushit was the figurehead because he isn't smart enough to know his butt from a hole in the ground. Criminals all, and as for voting for the authority, has anyone thought about the fact that "authority" generallys conveys the idea that whoever will be using that authority has the intelligence to evaluate everything, get as many facts as possible, exhaust all avenues of alternative actions toward achieving the desired goal? So newly after 9/11 (which has been played to death) neither the people nor the officialdom knew just how stupid and evil this administration was.

[FogBelter]

Senator Kerry ... it's time.

Pull the plug on this damn Iraq mess. Cut off the funds.

End it.

[bumpersticker]

PAY-GO.

Make Bush finish the sentence - "I want this much, AND I WILL PAY FOR IT BY...."

[outnow]

If a burglar breaks into your home, do you want him to give you family counseling? Well, this is the best analogy that I can give you with the war in Iraq and the US position on the continuing occupation. That which is begun in error and under false pretenses should be immediately stopped.

Your position is that Bush messed up an otherwise good and just war. What about international law and self-determination? What about your own experience in Vietnam?

The US should not be the bully on the block and attack other countries pre-emptively, according to this month's issue of Foreign Policy.

We need to respect other nations and refrain from regime change as a doctrine. What right does the US have to engage in regime change? I read the Constitution and what is left of international law differently than you do, Senator. I am disappointed to say the least.

[NAZARENE]

I'm not sure what WE can do,or what congress can do about this "war", but I suggest the one meaningful thing for us to do now is to give the decider a new and permanent name which everyone will instantly recognise: George WPE Bush.

[LizM]

A political solution may not come about, as you say, “without a clear deadline on where our troops will be pulling out.”

However, a political solution is also not about to magically and spontaneously develop as a result of the various factions in Iraq miraculously coming together to work out, amongst themselves, their political differences.

A political solution in Iraq will require strong US leadership in facilitating a process that brings together all warring Iraqi factions for intense negotiations to reach a political accommodation, and that brings together the regional and international powers in an effort to support and secure any political power-sharing arrangement that is achieved..­.all under the auspices of the United Nations.

If this sounds at all familiar to you, then it is because it should! Your friend, Joe Biden - he’s still your friend, right?...I ask because not once did you mention the Chairman’s name yesterday during your GAO hearing nor did you refer to any element of his Iraq strategy -has outlined this very process to achieve a sustainable political settlement in Iraq. As you are well aware, the Biden strategy offers the only hope there is of ending this war responsibly, without leaving chaos behind or the need to return at a later date. Would it kill you to promote it?

You say that you will be “working continuously this month trying to set a deadline to force a new policy in Iraq.” I hope that means that you will be supporting the Biden strategy as the only possible new policy in Iraq with any reasonable prospect of facilitating the political solution that everyone agrees is missing in action. If not, then I look forward to hearing all of the details about the “new policy” in Iraq you intend to force.

[PADDYWHACK]

The GOP will pay dearly for all of this and I speak as a fomer supporter,the Dems are now becoming complicit in the madness and may get their rear end kicked too.Why don't some of you stand up for the people or has someone whispered in your ear,who the hell is running the place?.Tim­e to take the keys of the car away from the crazy fratboy

[Spookcatcher]

The "elitists" Congress and Senaotrs need to grab the SGT of Arms and start arresting the Bush Administration, instead of letting these Fascists out into the mainstream business channels and continue their operations. The whole U.S.Senate and Congress is DERELICT OF DUTY!

[notfooooldbyW]

I thank Senator Kerry for his valiant efforts to try to stop Bush's unnecessary invasion and incompetent occupation of Iraq. One suggestion that simply might help bring Bush down and therefore his ability to wage war would be to find out what happened to Amir al Saadi who was last seen in U.S. custody in Iraq nearly three years ago. There's been no word of his condition or wherabouts. Which is strange since he was the Iraqi official who dealt with the UN inspectors and swore they had no WMD and said Bush and Powell were lying. Saadi also carried genuine peace initiatives to the US from Saddam that would have let the CIA FBI and US WMD experts into Iraq to verify the absence of WMD. Bush's crime is lying that he exhausted all peaceful means before invading Iraq. Saadi has the goods on that lie, big time. How exactly was Saadi "DISSAPPEARED"?

[Jillianw]

Senator Kerry - I am hoping that Sen Reid has a plan in place for the Democrats to attach another timeline in to the next funding bill.

It just seems like something is missing in DC, something to get the Repubs to go along with the timeline. Maybe if the debate was framed better? Maybe attach it to family values ~ having to let gays in the military - something that will break thru the divisiveness.

Maybe Senator Biden will come home with a compelling case from his trip to Iraq.

Thanks for all you do! You are still my President!