Newspaper OpEd (2005)

Robert P. Watson

AN EXIT STRATEGY FOR IRAQ

" Mission accomplished!" Wearing a full military flight suit, President Bush landed on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln to proclaim the end of hostilities in Iraq . The date: May 1, 2003 .

Two years after the supposed end to the war, the American death toll in Iraq and Afghanistan far exceeds 1,000 with thousands more wounded and severely maimed. Ironically, most of the loss of life has occurred after the fall of Baghdad in spring 2003. Even though the Bush administration and hawks in Congress maintain that we are winning the war (more precisely, the war after the war that ended on May 1, 2003 ) and Vice President Cheney repeatedly boasts that the insurgency is in its "final throes," the strength and veracity of the insurgency grows and recent weeks have been the deadliest on record.

Enough is enough. It is time to end our current Iraq policy, which has turned into an open-ended military commitment with no end in sight and, as presently conceived and executed, no prospect for success. It is clear to me that there is no viable military solution for Iraq . We have done all we can do militarily and the insurgents will never offer an unconditional surrender. My argument for immediate American military disengagement is based on three points:

1. We never should have gone into Iraq to begin with because they had nothing to do with the 9/11 terrorist attack and doing so diverted our attention and resources from the task of eliminating the true perpetrators of 9/11.
2. The President's purported military objectives in Iraq have largely been accomplished – we defeated the Iraqi military, captured Saddam Hussein, eliminated Iraq's ability to wage war, verified that no weapons of mass destruction (WMD) existed, and destroyed any capability of such a weapon's program in foreseeable future.
3. The longer we maintain a military presence in Iraq we fuel the insurgency and jihad , destabilize the entire region, and prevent ourselves from focusing on what should have been our real mission, which is to eliminate Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda (the perpetrators of 9/11), work cooperatively with the international community to find and destroy terror cells around the world and economically develop the region, and secure the American homeland.

From the start there were no sound reasons to invade Iraq . The President's original claims after the 9/11 tragedy that Iraq was linked to the attack, that the Iraqis had stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), that Saddam Hussein had purchased "significant quantities of uranium from Africa," and so on turned out to be, at best, shoddy intelligence and, at worst, utter fabrications of the truth. Multiple sources now tell us that the President wanted to invade Iraq from the time he was inaugurated and that he was comfortable cherry-picking intelligence that fit his agenda rather than making sound policy based on verifiable intelligence.

General Brent Scowcroft, former National Security Advisor to Presidents Ford and Bush I, and respected expert on national security, was right in his prediction that American forces would be seen by the Iraqis as invaders, and not liberators as the Bush administration claimed. This has been increasingly the case, as we are now an occupying army of 140,000 in the midst of what is becoming a civil war and threat to stability and security in the entire region.

To make matters worse, our leaders' conduct during the war has been as bad as their planning for the war – from ignoring our allies, to the mishandling of detainees, to prison abuse scandals, to the failure a staggering two years into the war to provide our troops with necessary body armor and protection on the humvees. The President's actions provide our enemies with fodder, squandered international goodwill, and continue to erode support for the war at home.

Ironically, it is the President's fiscal irresponsibility here at home, deeply flawed leadership around the world, and misguided war that now threaten our national security. As such, I wish to propose an 8-point disengagement plan for "victory with honor":

1. We must make clear our intention not to have a permanent military presence or base in Iraq or Afghanistan.
2. We must form an international (including moderate Arab states and NATO) peace keeping mission in Iraq and Afghanistan.
3. NATO should lead in training Iraqi and Afghani police and special forces.
4. Iraq 's national debt is estimated at $135 billion, and Iraqis owe Kuwait substantial war reparations from the first Persian Gulf War. Iraq cannot possibly repay these, and to attempt to do so would utterly destroy what is already a collapsed economy. The U.S. must lead in expanding the international community's debt forgiveness programs for Iraq and Afghanistan .
5. At the same time, we must coordinate an international economic aid and development program for Iraq and Afghanistan , and we must get the water running, the lights turned on, and the hospitals and schools opened
6. Commence an immediate and aggressive withdrawal of American troops, with National Guard units coming as soon as is tactically possible. The remaining troops should be devoted to border security and the protection of U.S. personnel.
7. The international community should be invited to assist us in achieving a negotiated settlement for our immediate military withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan .
8. National Guard units need to be redeployed to the task of securing the homeland where our chemical, nuclear, and water treatment plants are insecure, our computer and power grids remain vulnerable, our borders are completely porous, and only 10% of foreign containers entering our ports are being inspected (for radioactive materials and so on).

Tragically, although our troops have fought with bravery and honor, President Bush's policy in Iraq has done exactly the opposite of what it was intended to do. I doubt the President will change his mind about Iraq and, consequently, the tragedy will continue to get even worse. Many more American lives will be lost, along with any prospect for stability and progress in the region.

Immediate military disengagement is a difficult position to advocate, and it will undoubtedly be met by opposition. However, to remain wedded to the present military and political policy in Iraq undermines our ability to succeed in our real mission and win the peace. We are losing more than billions of dollars and the lives of too many young Americans; we are losing our standing in the world and our honor, and we are about to lose the peace.

The President often notes that "freedom is not free," to which I would agree but add that folly is even more costly. Much is said by the President about peace through strength… but I would propose a proud American tradition of strength through peace as the answer.