THE Bush administration, impaled on a hook of its own making, is beginning to turn uncomfortably as the US public loses faith in the Iraq operation and fellow Republican politicians facing midterm elections in 11 months are starting to lose faith in its leadership. The president sought to defend himself yesterday with an attacking speech at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis but his tone is changing.
Gone was the implication embedded in all the administration’s previous rhetoric that those who doubted Washington’s Iraq mission were unpatriotic, were undermining US troops and were playing into the hands of America’s enemies. Instead while still insisting that the administration would see the job through, Bush spoke of troop reductions next year. He is still counting on a successful outcome to this month’s general election and the effective training of sufficient Iraqi police and army personnel to shoulder the burden of the insurgency.
A key plank to his argument remains that it would be disastrous if he set a timetable for disengagement from Iraq. Whatever date chosen would indeed create a hostage to fortune. The unity of the Iraqi administration might well begin to crack as different communities looked for fallback positions, if ever the forces of law and order became overwhelmed without a US military presence. Just as crucially, US service personnel, knowing there was a date when they could quit an unpopular conflict, would be tempted to avoid danger and keep to their camps until the hours of departure arrived. Finally the insurgents, particularly the Al-Qaeda elements would redouble their efforts to damage and humiliate the Americans while they still offered targets within Iraq.
At least in continuing to promise that America will stay in Iraq as long as the elected government needs its support, Bush sounds as if he is doing the honorable thing. He is scheduled to repeat this message in a series of speeches in the coming weeks. The problem is that a date for disengagement has become a live issue domestically.
The president’s refusal to consider naming a day actually adds to the pressure to do so. Americans are losing heart over Iraq in much the same way as they did over Vietnam. This is another conflict that they do not understand.
The most puzzling and frustrating factor, then as now, is that the might of US weapons technology and electronic intelligence, has been unable to secure victory in a country with a fraction of its resources.
Americans rejoiced in the final overthrow of a dictator in Iraq. They gloried in the triumph of US arms. But they knew little and cared less about Iraq. When there were no ticker tape victory parades because the struggle turned out to be far from over, Jo Public began to ask himself why his brothers and sons were still being shot at and blown up on the other side of the world. There has always been a strong isolationist seam in US political thought and Bush clearly fears it is resurfacing.
