03/18/2007

Four years and 3,209 dead; Iraq is an American tragedy

As America observes the fourth anniversary of the Iraq war Monday, another date must also come to mind: Sept. 11, 2001.

In decades to come those two dates — 9/11, and March 19, 2003 — will mark two great turning points: The first is the day the world rallied around America after terrorists in hijacked jetliners brought down the twin towers of the World Trade Center; the second is the day we launched an unjustified war that has eroded our national will, our standing in the world and the moral high ground that was ours after 9/11.

Now, four years and more than 3,200 American dead later we are mired in what has become a civil war in Iraq, with no clear way out. The level of Sunni-Shiite violence has become incomprehensible; children and families are the targets of choice and torture and beheadings are a daily occurrence.

The Taliban is resurgent in Afghanistan. Osama bin Laden is still on the loose. America's ports and borders are still, for all intents and purposes, unguarded.

Worst of all there is still little or no leadership on how to resolve the Iraq war or reinvigorate the war on terror or make us more secure. President Bush is staying the course in Iraq, whatever that is, no matter the cost. In his world view there is apparently no end to the war there, and he offers no new strategies. Others, he has said, will be left with the job of leaving Iraq.

Republicans in Congress still refuse to consider how to disengage from a fight they know we can't win. Democrats are trying to show a united front and set a date to pull out of Iraq, but may not have the votes or the political will to do it.

All in all it is a bitter anniversary, made worse by what we have learned since March 19, 2003, about how the Bush administration lied and maneuvered the nation into this war, that it is a war we didn't have to fight, and how badly it has been carried off.

The recent revelations about conditions at Walter Reed hospital are typical of the administration's utter disregard for the people actually fighting and dying in Iraq.

While beating the drums for war, the Bush administration outsourced the job of maintaining the hospital to a subsidiary of Halliburton, Vice President Dick Cheney's former company. That firm promptly let conditions at Walter Reed deteriorate to the point where thousands of wounded soldiers were given rooms infested with rats and mold.

We couldn't wait for United Nations weapons inspectors to determine if Saddam Hussein actually had weapons of mass destruction before invading (he didn't), but we didn't use that time to provide soldiers with the body armor and armored vehicles they needed. To this day, four years and billions of dollars after the invasion, we still don't have enough properly armored vehicles to protect our soldiers.

The litany of mistakes is almost endless. Halliburton has made billions despite being accused of massive fraud. Bush ignored early pleas from his top generals to get more soldiers on the ground to win the war and secure the country. Iraq's oil industry remains in shambles.

And now the president is casting his eyes toward Iran and its nuclear weapons program and Cheney is warning that every option remains on the table. It is familiar territory.

We didn't need to be here. Bush administration claims that Iraq was somehow responsible for 9/11 have been proven to be just one more lie. This was a war Bush and Cheney and the other neocons in the administration wanted, and they got it.

What did we get? The bill — billions of dollars wasted, more than 3,000 dead, more than 23,000 wounded and the enmity of much of the planet.

Sept. 11 was a tragedy brought upon us by others; the war in Iraq is a tragedy brought upon us by our own president. Four years and counting.