Rethinking the Iraqi war

With disasters dogging America, the price of oil running amok, the number of deaths of our soldiers in Iraq almost reaching 2,000 and the insurgency in Iraq getting stronger, it is time for us reevaluate our priorities.

Two years ago, when President Bush made the case for war he cited the main reason as a noble mission to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction and terrorists.

Among the evidence he presented were discredited reports from disgruntled Iraqi elements like Ahmed Chalabi and flawed intelligence such as Iraq buying uranium from Niger.

The ultimate goal for the war was to make America and the world safer.

But we have to admit the war in Iraq has not made the world safer than it was before Sept. 11.

Terrorist attacks continue with recent attacks in Bali and London. The ever-creative insurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan indicates terrorism’s survival.

As time passes without an end to the war in sight, the only things that match the administration’s metamorphosis of reasons for war, are the fast-changing nature of the faceless enemies in Iraq.

The administration remains optimistic about winning the war, but how can we win a war when we don’t even know the identity of whom we are fighting? Who is the enemy in Iraq? Is it Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian terrorist and bin Laden’s protégé, or foreigners from Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia as some have alleged? Or maybe it’s just a bunch of angry Iraqis—disgruntled Saddam Hussein supporters.

The administration doesn’t seem to know who the enemy in Iraq is either.

The bad news from Iraq has affected public opinion. More than 60 percent of Americans polled disapprove of the war and say it is moving in the wrong direction.

Some Republicans who supported the war in the beginning are now questioning its validity. During a recent Senate Armed Services Committee meeting, Sen. John McCain from Arizona noted the war was not progressing as the generals had predicted.

While addressing the now retired Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard Myers, McCain bluntly said, “Things have not gone as we had planned or expected, nor as we were told by you, General Myers.”

And Myers backtracked “I don’t think this committee or the American public has ever heard me say that things were going very well in Iraq.”

Myers’ honest response is disturbing. It is no wonder the military recruiters have not been able to reach their target this year.

Republican Congressman Walter Jones of North Carolina, who helped change French Fries to ‘Freedom Fries’ to protest France’s opposition to the war, has also taken a dramatic U-turn in his stance. He said the main reason for the war, which was to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, has been proven to be untrue. He is now demanding a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq.

Jones said his change of heart about the war came after he attended the funeral of a soldier killed in Nasiriya, Iraq, in April 2003.

“After 1,700 deaths, over 12,000 wounded and $200 billion spent, we believe it is time to have this debate,” Jones said in a CNN report published in June.

The death toll for American troops has now exceeded 1,900.

This war has also had a negative effect on our international image. Accusations of torture at Guantamo prisons and the Abu Ghraib prison scandal bring our policy about the use of torture during interrogations into question.

The war has not helped our oil prices, which continue to escalate. It has complicated the situation in Gulf States affected by the hurricanes.

Issues surrounding the war in Iraq are not liberal or conservative; they’re American. Insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan don’t ask our soldiers about their political leanings before attacking them.

Let us support our troops by coming up with a plan to ensure their safety. It is time for us to rethink the useless war in Iraq.

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