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9th July 07 - Don Monkerud ~ STWR Contributing Writer

This time of year, when Americans celebrate their freedom, is a good time to re-evaluate the state of the major US project in the world today, the effort to bring "freedom" to Iraq.

Rather than beginning at the beginning of the discredited "save the world from WMD" invasion of Iraq, step back one year ago, when Bush went on the offensive to help Republicans win midterm elections.

Back then, Bush claimed the capture of al-Zarqawi (remember him?) was "the turning point" in Iraq and the tide was turning in favor of the US. Not the first time for a tidal change since the infamous aircraft carrier "victory speech," but a starting point for an evaluation.

Described to be in "high spirits," Bush said the US wouldn't "cut and run," but would "complete the mission," to make Iraq a stable, functioning democracy. Despite horrifically bad news pouring in from Iraq, the president and the GOP declared the US would be "victorious" because the troops knew "their cause was noble." GOP House Speaker Hastert declared, Democrats lacked "the will to win," suggested they were unpatriotic, and guaranteed that 2006 was "a year of significant transition" in Iraq.

At the time he declared this turning of the tide, Bush ignored advice from 100 leading American foreign policy and military experts who judged the "War on Terrorism" a failure. Eighty-six percent said the world has grown more dangerous after Bush's invasion of Iraq. They gave his diplomatic efforts to combat terrorism 1.8 out of 10; rated the effectiveness of the Department of Homeland Security 2.9 out of 10; and judged US intelligence changes "poor to fair." Iraq was "a perfect training ground" for Islamic terrorists and they predicted "future repercussions" for the US. Despite the loss of the midterm elections, considered "a referendum" on the war, Bush continues to replay the same victory speech.

After four years, the loss of almost nearly 4,300 American dead and 30,000 wounded, including military "contractors," and $500 billion dollars, the promised victory remains elusive. Bush's approval rating has reached an all-time low, reflecting discontent with his handling of the war. An AP-Apsos poll in June reported 32 percent of Americans satisfied with his overall job performance, down from 67 percent in January. A mere 21 percent believe the US is headed in the right direction. A more recent CBS poll found that 77 percent of Americans believe the war is going badly, 66 percent want to decrease the number of troops in Iraq and 40 percent want all troops removed.

Undeterred, Bush declares that history will be his judge.

Meanwhile, a June Pew Global Attitudes poll discovered that anti-Americanism since 2002 has increased around the world, "worsened among America's European allies, and is very, very bad in the Muslim world." A majority of the citizens of 43 out of the 47 countries polled believe the US should withdraw from Iraq "as soon as possible." In the past year, support for the war against terrorism has dropped, even in countries with recent terrorist attacks, and majorities around the world believe that the US only supports democracy in places where it will further American interests.
 
Conditions in Iraq continue to grow worse. Foreign Policy magazine's 2007 Failed States Index found that Iraq deteriorated for the third year in a row in "a range of social, economic, political and military indicators." In April, Amnesty International warned of a new humanitarian crisis due to the 3 million Iraqis displaced by the war.

In May, Chatham House, a British foreign policy think tank, found the Iraqi government "largely powerless and irrelevant" and facing the "distinct possibility of collapse and fragmentation." The former "coalition of the willing" appears to agree with these assessments, for in the past year foreign troops helping the US occupy Iraq have declined from 20,000 to 12,000, almost half what it was in 2003 and 40 percent fewer than last year.
 
The once lofty goal of training the Iraqi Security Forces, which increased from 266,000 to 349,000 in the past year, hasn't helped US troops, who continue to bear 90 percent of the burden of combating terrorists. Monthly attacks surged from 3,500 in 2006 to 4,200 in 2007. Civilian deaths declined slightly from a year ago but Iraqi lives didn't improve. Oil production remained static, electricity production fell slightly, unemployment remained at 33 percent and the annual GNP growth rate hasn't budged over the past three years.

Even Retired Army Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of the US invasion force during it's first year of occupying Iraq, recently said the US can forget about "winning the war," and can now only hope to salvage a stalemate to "starve off defeat."
 
Only Bush, Cheney and hard core Republicans now believe the US can salvage  anything from Iraq. The vast majority recognizes that it will take years for the US to dig out of the hole Bush has dug. Can the US afford another year of false promises? Or is it time for Congress to get serious about impeachment?

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