http://www.counterpunch.org/bomar02252006.html
Weekend Edition February 25 / 26, 2006
Losing on Every Front
By JOHN BOMAR
Can anyone doubt that the war in Iraq has proved to be Osama bin
Laden's sweetest dream come true?
In his book on the run up to war, Richard Clarke, the
counter-terrorism czar at the White House, immediately recognized this
potential risk of an Iraq invasion.
He recounts envisioning bin Laden sitting somewhere in a cave actually
"willing George Bush to invade Iraq."
Clarke knew that such a jingoist misadventure would play right into
the hands of the extremists:
It would allow them portray the US as an out of control Great Satan
with a personal vendetta against the Islamic world and thirst for
their oil.
Bush's verbal faux paux in using the word "crusade" to describe the
effort only heightened the propaganda bonanza for the extremists.
Mr. Clark and other knowledgeable war critics correctly foresaw our
present dilemma:
the US treasury spent and bleeding red ink, our credibility and
respect lost to the world, our military stretched and overextended
while fighting on two fronts, near civil war in Iraq, an unfinished
job in Afghanistan, deep and serious divisions in our body politic,
and immense international distrust of the intentions and motives of
our nation.
And worst of all, a great strengthening of the forces of international
terrorism.
In his recent dialogue in The Nation, former head of the Middle
Eastern Division of the CIA, Paul Pillar, reveals in substantial ways
the abusive and deceptive tactics used by the Bush administration in
their manipulation of intelligence to sell the war on Iraq.
He also describes Mr. Bush's complete disregard of cautionary warnings
about the post war conditions in Iraq, conditions now proven so sadly
true.
Pillar's confessions only confirm what many had already begun to
accept:
we were lied to in justifying the war in Iraq, the intelligence was
indeed "cherry-picked," and the administration was ignorant of or did
not care about the potential post war civil strife inside Iraq.
So obsessed was Mr. Bush to make war on Saddam Hussein that he
willingly played us for fools, and went in half-cocked with
insufficient troops to manage the post war environment.
The myth of a cakewalk followed by rose pedals in the streets and
happy-ever-after demonstrates just how disconnected were the war
planners from the reality of Iraq.
And the larger war on international terrorism?
We are losing by leaps and bounds.
Who in their right mind can argue that invading Iraq has made us safer
at home?
Despite Mr. Bush's vain attempt to portray Iraq as the forefront in
the struggle against international terrorism -- which only compounds
the core dishonesty that characterized his preemptive invasion -- most
now concede that the war has indeed strengthened the Islamofascist
movement in unprecedented ways.
Sure, Iraq has become a magnet for those in the Middle East who would
actively make war against us, but the opportunity we handed them was
of our own making.
By almost universal agreement it is now accepted that we have actually
strengthened international terrorism and the aura of Osama bin Laden
by creating a "breeding and training ground for terrorists" in Iraq.
World opinion does matter. In many ways it provides a mirror by which
we may see ourselves.
Right now we hold the lowest position ever, even worse than the
terrible days of Vietnam.
We have been disgraced and humiliated in the eyes of the world under
Mr. Bush's blundering helmsmanship.
All military commanders are held to the high standard of outcome and
effect, it is the price they pay for the power given them.
By this measure Mr. Bush has been a miserable failure bordering on
incompetence.
We are weaker now than at any time in recent history.
We have squandered the good will afforded us after the events of 9/ll
and thrown away our punch on a tin pot dictator who posed absolutely
no threat to us whatsoever.
We are bogged down in a foreign land half a world away that is perhaps
quickly approaching a state of civil war.
We have handed the terrorists a propaganda bonanza on a silver platter
and multiplied the hatred and resentment toward us in the Islamic
world to immense proportion.
Many argue that the recent success of extremists in Palestine and Iran
have been a direct result of our Iraqi invasion; sweeping the floor
from underneath the moderate/progressive voices in the region.
If "by their fruit ye shall know them," then the present realities for
the United States speak of leadership that has utterly failed in its
duty to lead with wisdom, prudence and forethought.
From the missed opportunities to identify and thwart the airborne
attacks of 9/11,
to the missed opportunities to capture Osama bin Laden in the
mountains of Tora Bora,
to the lies that preceded the trumped up war in Iraq, to the unwitting
strengthening of our real enemies,
to the bankrupt treasury and deep divisions within the US, this
administration's legacy will be one of missed opportunities, fatal
misjudgments, arrogant and short sighted priorities, reactionary
jingoism, and delusional incompetence:
Bitter fruits indeed.
_______________________________________________________
Harry
"It is always advisable to be a loser if you cannot become a winner"
Frank Zappa
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