General David H. Petraeus’ testimony on the Iraq War last week couldn’t have been better. Unless, of course, he had announced that the surge had actually done what it was supposed to do—or rather, what he was supposed to do. After failing to turn the situation around in Iraq, Petraeus joined the long line of administrators who have misled the American public about the state of the war.
When he assumed command of U.S. forces in January, Petraeus was a media darling. The seemingly apolitical Princeton graduate was hailed as the man who could finally turn the situation around in Iraq.
By now, though, it’s clear that nothing turns a military man political faster than having his reputation tied to a failing campaign. On Tuesday, Petraeus refused to commit to a timetable for ending the war, echoing George W. Bush’s increasingly ridiculous “stay the course” rhetoric.
Petraeus’ claim that civilian deaths have dropped significantly is specious. According to the Pentagon’s September 2007 quarterly report, “the number of civilians killed in Iraq, mainly due to catastrophic attacks by insurgents and terrorists, fell sharply from about 1,900 in May to 1,227 in June—the lowest level in five months—but rose again in July to 1,653.”
Even if we did believe Petraeus’ assertion that the surge’s heavy troop concentrations resulted in an overall decrease in civilian deaths, the goal of the surge was to allow for political progress in the Iraqi government, ensuring Iraqi stability without the United States’ military presence. That progress didn’t happen, so the surge has been a bust.
Last week a Government Accountability Office report accused Iraqi leadership of failing to meet 13 of the 18 benchmarks that Congress laid out to measure political progress in Iraq.
No one should be surprised by the Iraqi government’s failure to make political strides. The sudden injection of 30,000 additional troops had little hope of accomplishing anything momentous, given the complete inadequacy of prior planning. But the surge failed to insulate Iraq’s political leaders from sectarian tensions, even temporarily, so that they could make any meaningful political progress.
The breakdown this week of the Iraqi government’s oil debates, in which negotiations stalled as the Kurds in oil-rich northern Iraq pushed for local control of drilling while central Iraqis argued to nationalize it, only served to underscore the country’s deep-rooted political divisions.
Unfazed by their failures, Petraeus and the White House touted the supposed security gains in the Anbar province; Petraeus claimed that civilians have begun to reject al-Qaeda there. In fact, nothing highlights the administration’s missteps better than the situation in Anbar, where Sheik Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha, an ally of the U.S. military, was killed by a roadside bomb near his home last week.
Whether Iraq can stay together at all must be called in to question. In July, the Associated Press extensively covered a case in the area between Fallujah and Baghdad in which Sunni volunteer soldiers patrolled in the same region as a brigade of Shi’ite Iraqi Army soldiers.
Lieutenant Colonel Kurt Pinkerton, who commanded American troops in the same area, said that the two groups spent much of their time attempting to undermine each other by wrongfully detaining members of their rival group and disarming one another in order to become the dominant armed force in the province.
“Iraq, to stay together, will need a very centralized government … perhaps more centralized than is the case in a democracy,” Georgetown Government Professor Stephen Wayne explained.
Yet just two weeks ago, President Bush felt confident enough about the situation in Iraq to brag, “We’re kicking ass,” to an Australian official.
Sadly, as Petraeus stated unequivocally that the surge has reduced civilian deaths in Iraq and confidently outlined suggestions for “the way ahead,” nothing in his testimony last week was at odds with Bush’s boast, which makes the General the latest in a string of outright liars.
With the failure of the troop surge, the Iraq War has finally hit rock bottom. But no matter how many people bang bongos on the Mall over this war, no matter how many retired generals condemn it, the delusions under which this war’s leaders persist are tragically far from dissolving.
