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Patriot Ledger The political dialogue on Iraq is stuck. Last month Republican leaders in Congress staged a supposed debate on Iraq that was designed to paint Democrats into a corner in order to label them as soft on national security during the upcoming campaigns for Congress. Anyone paying the slightest attention would remember only the meaningless platitudes, ‘‘stay the course’’ and ‘‘cut and run.’’ In a charged political climate where it has become impossible to discuss the mission in Iraq thoughtfully or even reasonably, Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-South Boston, deserves credit for suggesting a new option. Lynch has been to Iraq five times and, like most members of Congress, has returned each time with praise for the troops but grave concerns about what is happening there. Lynch is proposing a bipartisan commission to help shift control in Iraq from the U.S. military to the Iraqi government. President Bush repeatedly assures the American and Iraqi public that control of Iraq by Iraqis is increasing. The number of trained Iraqi security forces is growing, to be sure. But the country remains, by any definition, out of control. Bomb attacks and civilian deaths are now a daily reality. Vicious warfare between Sunnis and Shiites makes civil war seem plausible, if it has not already begun. As for political control, the country has a parliament which does not yet function. The Sunni Arab bloc is currently boycotting the government - and not for the first time - after one of its members was kidnapped. This is just the latest in a series of disruptions that keeps the parliament from acting as a significant, unifying force. The debate in Washington has been centered on whether there should be a timetable for withdrawing American forces, something the Bush administration adamantly opposes. But the president has no exit strategy. Lynch’s commission proposal offers a vehicle for leaving Iraq that leaders in Washington should welcome. The goal has always been to hand over control of Iraq to Iraqis, so let’s work on a plan that accomplishes that, rather than being at the mercy of events the U.S. government cannot control. The inspiration for Lynch’s plan was a bipartisan commission that engineered the transfer from U.S. military control in the Philippines after World War II to civilian control by Filipinos. Granted, the situations are not analogous, but the goal then was the same as it is in Iraq. And Washington needs to find a way out of an increasingly unpopular war. Five years after the U.S. began the war on terror in Afghanistan, with the Taliban supposedly conquered and an elected government in place, the situation there is deteriorating fast. Visiting this week, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned of a Taliban insurgency underwritten by opium profits: a description that fits the situation when the U.S. entered that country. In Iraq, the prospects for long-term success are equally questionable. What’s clear is that the U.S. cannot remain an occupying force in a part of the world where its presence is deeply resented. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost half a trillion dollars so far, and 2,524 troops have been killed in Iraq alone. It’s time for a reality check in Washington and for accommodation on all sides of this issue. And Congressman Lynch’s proposal for a bipartisan commission is a place to start. Copyright 2006 The Patriot Ledger |