A full year after G. W. Bush leapt from a S-3B Viking jet fighter and gave his famous "Mission Accomplished" speech aboard the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln, the war in Iraq has dissolved into chaos. At home, critics are giving no quarter in what they see as gross mismanagement of an unjustified war.
"What [the anniversary] shows is that having overthrown Saddam's regime and having carried out a successful military campaign, the Bush administration at the highest level still had no clue of what they have gotten themselves into and they had no meaningful plan for coping with it, for managing it," said Flynt Leverett, former senior director for the Middle East Initiative for the National Security Council from 2002 to 2003.
I agree. Highlighted here are 12 key issues in the 12 months since Mr. Bush declared an "end to major hostilities" on May 1, 2003.
1. Failure to Provide Adequate Number of Troops
On April 15, 2004, Rumsfeld announced a 3-month extension in tours of duty for about 20,000 troops in Iraq. stopping a planned drawdown in military strength from 135,000 to 115,000.(1) 135,000 troops was clearly not enough for the occupation, and it is clearly not enough in the face of mounting violence.
2. Failure to Adequately Equip and Support Troops
In its rush to start the conflict, the Bush administration failed to adequately equip US troops. The ambushes and roadside bombs that are a dangerous part of troops' everyday lives have were apparently not taken into account. (2) When the war began, only about 2 percent of Army's 110,000 Humvees were armored. (3) Last October, it was reported that nearly one-quarter of American troops serving in Iraq did not have ceramic plated body armor, which can stop bullets fired from assault rifles and shrapnel. Only now is the Administration rushing tanks and body armor to Iraq. (4)
3. Dissolved the Iraqi Army and Police Force
The question of what to do with the Iraqi army arose before the war. Bush initially supported a plan that would have put several hundred thousand Iraqi soldiers on the U.S. payroll for security, maintenance and other postwar tasks. US administrator L. Paul Bremer abruptly stopped the project after the "end to major hostilities" in May 2003 and ordered the demobilization of Iraq's entire army, including largely apolitical conscripts.(5) By the time the decision was reversed, precious time and security had been lost.
4. Failure to Secure Cities & Key Infrastructure
At about the same time he was dissolving the Iraqi army, Bremer dismissed the Iraqi police, leaving key infrastructure wide open for marauders and looters and allowing enemies and insurgents to infiltrate the country. The coalition army was occupied by fighting and was unable to stop the looting of hospitals, banks, and government facilities. Oil wells, on the other hand, were well protected.
5. No WMDs or links to Al Qaeda Found
In a year of searching, no Weapons of Mass Destruction have been found. The so-called mobile labs found last year have been proven to have no link with WMDs.(6) "They could be hidden, like the 50 tonnes of mustard gas in a turkey farm" in Libya, Bush said in a Apr 14 prime-time press conference.
Also missing are any links to Al Qaeda. Despite this fact, 57% of Americans believe Saddam Hussein gave support to Al Qaeda. "The public is not getting a clear message about what the experts are saying about Iraqi links to al-Qaeda and its WMD program," said Steven Kull, director of the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the U of Maryland.(7)
6. Lost Control in Fallujah
On Friday, April 30, 2004, U.S. Marines withdrew from positions (8) in the southeast of Fallujah as U.S. commanders met with local representatives to work out details of a deal to lift the month-long siege. The siege of Fallujah was triggered by the March 31 killing and mutilation of four American contract workers, whose bodies were burned and dragged through the streets. Hundreds of Iraqi civilians are believed to have died in the siege. Local hospital officials said more than 600 Iraqis were killed in the fighting, a number disputed by Iraq's health ministry.
7. Uprising in Najaf
In Najaf, Shiite cleric (and murder suspect) Muqtada Al-Sadr (9) took control of the city's security, leading to a direct conflict with US troops. Al-Sadr viewed Hussein's ruthless policies as well as the UN sanctions as direct reasons for their hardship and agony during the past decades. In the months after the invasion, Al-Sadr renamed Saddam city after his family and attacked the western presence in Iraq through his newspaper and later moved towards armed confrontations using his Al-Mehdi Army. He also declared a shadow Iraqi government; with an independent cabinet and army in clear challenge to the existing Governing Council.
Al-Sadr never did managed to influence the Governing Council, nor did he manage to change the mission of the Coalition. Al-Sadr's gambit must be recognized by it's ability to do what the Coalition cannot: gain respect from middle-class Sunnis and influence the will of the population. (10)
8. April is Bloodiest Month of Conflict
The number of U.S. troops killed in combat in April is 127, making it the bloodiest month for U.S. forces in Iraq. At least 736 (incl. over 500 from combat) U.S. troops have died in Iraq since the war began in March 2003. Up to 1,200 Iraqis also have been killed this month.
9. Spain, Dominican Republic, and Honduras have pulled out
Following the lead of Spain's new government, Honduras recently announced that it was withdrawing its troops from the Iraq occupation. Coincidentally, Honduras' decision occurred days after Bush's announcement that he was appointing John Negroponte to head up the U.S. embassy in Iraq. Spain was pressured out after the March 11th bombing. No new nations have joined the "coalition of the willing" since the start of the war.
10. Prisoner Abuse
Photos (11) of prisoner abuse in Abu Ghraib are now making their way to the Arab media.(12) These disturbing images are likely to make a negative impact on Arab perceptions of the USA. Six United States military officers have been convicted of torturing Iraqi prisoners and a court has recommended seven senior officers face disciplinary action on similar charges. Abu Ghraib is infamous as the place where the regime of Saddam Hussein tortured opponents, and now US troops have been caught doing the same thing to Iraqis.
11. Failure to Secure UN Assistance
In August 2003, a bomb attack at Baghdad's Canal Hotel killed 22 people, including the UN's top envoy in Iraq. More than 100 others were injured. A second, smaller attack in September prompted Secretary-General Annan to eventually withdraw all international UN personnel. (13) Since then, no serious attempts have been made by the US to recover UN assistance or provide security for an eventual return of the UN.
12. Passively Suppressing the Domestic Media
Two military contractors, Tami Silicio and her husband, David Landry, were fired after the photo they took at Kuwait International Airport of caskets were published in the Seattle Times.(14) ABC's Nightline programme recently decided to broadcast the names and pictures of more than 500 dead US service personnel (15). That decision has been met with much criticism, and although the Bush administration is not directly involved, they have done nothing to allow the US to honour its war dead.
