The Wisconsin State Journal Bill Wineke Column: Again, Our Hopes Ride on the Iraqis

By Bill Wineke, The Wisconsin State Journal

Jan. 11–Reach Bill Wineke at bwineke@madison.com or at 252-6146. Read Bill Wineke’s Blog at www.madison.com/wsj/blogs/wineke

President Bush’s address to the nation about Iraq on Wednesday night had an almost surreal quality to it.

The president admitted his past policies had failed, said he would send more than 20,000 additional American troops to Iraq, came close to threatening war with Iran and promised that more Americans will die in coming months.

Yet his demeanor was oddly dispassionate. He stood in front of a TelePrompTer and delivered his speech in a virtual monotone and, seemingly, without blinking.

Two things about it struck me:

His almost passing reference to a decision to send a Navy carrier group to the area and his promise that the group would disrupt any transfer of supplies from Iran. I don’t know where that will lead.

The president’s seeming trust that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is serious about stepping up to the plate and using his military to pacify Baghdad, even if that means taking on al-Maliki’s major government supporter, extremist cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Unfortunately, the president didn’t answer the most important question: What happens if nothing changes?

Al-Maliki has promised “fundamental” change, which means, presumably, that he will send in Iraqi troops for us to support, something that didn’t really happen a few months ago when we assigned the last batch of Americans to assist in Baghdad.

This is the same Iraqi leader who managed the astounding feat of turning Saddam Hussein into an international martyr. Now we’re going to trust him to end a civil war that is being waged in large part by al-Sadr.

And if al-Maliki doesn’t succeed, then what?

Bush didn’t tell us. Nor did he tell us why we’re sending in 20,000 troops rather than 5,000 troops or 50,000 troops.

If the number isn’t sufficient to do the job, then what?

These are not minor questions. Thousands of Wisconsin servicepeople have served in Iraq and dozens of them have been killed there. More than 500 have been wounded.

We owe it to them and we owe it to their families to ask tough questions.

The toughest question is, if this doesn’t work, then what?

Many of the president’s supporters have endorsed his plan as being “one last chance” to get things right. If it isn’t, then what?

The president spoke of “sacrifice.” But the sacrifice all comes from our military people and their families. Don’t we owe them more than a “last chance”?

What’s discouraging about all this is that the new “strategy” doesn’t seem to be a plan for victory so much as it is desperate attempt to avoid all-out defeat. It appears to piece together segments of all the previous failed policies — supporting Iraqi troops, trusting the al-Maliki government, pumping money into the Iraq economy — in the hope that, this time, it will all work.

—–

Copyright (c) 2007, The Wisconsin State Journal

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.