Several days ago, I watched John McCain make the following statement:
For the sake of argument, lets forget about the fact that the definition of victory has changed from what it was in 2003. Then it meant “ridding Iraq of WMD and creating a pro-western democracy in the heart of the Arab world”. Now pretty much every one acknowledges-even General Petreaus in his testimony- that “the real debate is not longer over winning or losing but over how to mitigate the consequences of a disaster that has taken place.” ( The Economist– September 8th, 2007).
Lets forget all that and follow John McCain’s argument to its ultimate logical conclusion. That means that prior to January 2007 as he said, “we had a strategy, that was former secretary Rumsfeld, was doomed to failure” and “argued for the [escalation] strategy we’re employing now.” [ABC This Week,9/9/07]. McCain further went on to say that now that we have a new strategy-the surge is working.
I often wonder how any of the folks who were tasked to make the Iraq war work before 2007 feel about that statement. Does that mean that all the hard work of a lot of dedicated people in the 3 years 9 months before hand was totally misdirected? Seems to me if I were Gen Casey I might take more than a little offense to that statement. And if it was in fact misdirected from the top, then how come the political architects of that direction of effort all, I repeat all, have gotten a free pass with no consequences to their decisions. Over 3,700 American Soldiers killed, another 300 coalition soldiers killed, 700+ US Contractors dead and 10’s of thousands wounded.
Consider:
If another 9/11 comes, our focus on Iraq will surely have been central to that nightmare.
How did we get here? What consequences have been paid by those who brought us here?
In our number one story tonight, no one person is to blame. And only some of those who are, recognize it.
As we reported yesterday, former Secretary of State Colin Powell tells G-Q magazine he is “sorry” he gave the world wrong information when he told the U-N of the threat Iraq supposedly posed.
He was not fired for doing so.
He paid no price we know of, other than the admitted “blot” on his record, and whatever toll his conscience exacted.
Unrepentant, however, is former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, also talking to G-Q;
Saying he does not lose sleep over the war… declining to apologize for it… despite pushing for it… despite using 9/11–the day after 9/11–for his own benefit, to pursue his goal of bombing Iraq.
Rumsfeld, not fired for his performance, but for politics… now in private life… reportedly trying to see how much he must tell, to make for a profitable tell-all. Rumsfeld was served, and the nation ill-served, by a flock of Pentagon hawks, bent on war, seeing 9/11 not as an obligation to answer,. but an opportunity to exploit.
Deputy Secretary Paul Wolfowitz who also tied Iraq to 9/11, who ridiculed warnings we needed more troops to invade Iraq–not fired– named head of the World Bank, until resigning in disgrace.
Defense Policy Board Chairman Richard Perle– not fired– forced to retire not for pushing the war, but for allegedly profiting off it.
Undersecretary Doug Feith, who cherry-picked anti-Iraq intel– not fired– despite a Pentagon report later refuting Feith’s claim that Iraq and al Qaeda were in league.
And as you go higher in the administration, your reward for being wrong on the war grows proportionately.
Deputy National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley– responsible for the 16-word lie about Iraqi pursuit of yellowcake from Niger– not fired– promoted to National Security Advisor.
His boss, Condoleezza Rice, who threatened us with mushroom clouds– not fired– promoted to America’s chief diplomat: Secretary of State.
CIA Director George Tenet, who called the case for war a “slam dunk”– not fired– given the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Vice President Dick Cheney, creator of his cherry-picking intel apparatus, gave its poisoned fruit to the media and then fed the lie to us on national television — even after truth, and shame, rendered its mendaciousness, manifest. He continues to do so to this day. Not fired.
So even if Mc Cain is right and the surge is working-why is it that it took over 4 and 1/2 years to get to this point? Why is it not one of those who steered the nation down this path has not been forced to accept blame and much worse, accountability? Why is it, not one of the above named individuals has even had the decency to issue an apology? The only one who came close was Powell and its not a strong one at that.
Or could it be that as George Will points out:
Those who today stridently insist that the surge has succeeded also say they are especially supportive of the president, Petraeus and the military generally. But at the beginning of the surge, both Petraeus and the president defined success in a way that took the achievement of success out of America’s hands.
The purpose of the surge, they said, is to buy time — “breathing space,” the president says — for Iraqi political reconciliation. Because progress toward that has been negligible, there is no satisfactory answer to this question: What is the U.S. military mission in Iraq?
If its breathing space and a functional Iraqi government argues Mr Will, then “By Bush’s Own Standard, Surge Has Failed.”
Success or failure, no one has to be blamed for it. Why shouldn’t the American people be angry about that?