CNN: Whatever Happened to the War?
CNN is reporting this weekend that issue of the Iraq War and War in Terror are lacking on the presidential campaign trail (Full Story). Why are candidates avoiding the issue? Well, I actually agree with their analysis in regard to both sides:"Here's a theory: Republicans know that a defining characteristic of the electorate now is widespread distaste for the war that Bush launched and has continued with the help of the Republican Party...But why aren't the Democrats talking it up so much anymore? Simple: The war is going much, much better than it was a year ago -- even a few months ago. You might even say we are winning. I fully accept that anytime our young people are dying and civilians are being killed in the midst of combat, it is difficult to even talk about winning or losing. But fatalities for troops and civilians alike are way down."
So, the Republicans are avoiding the war because of past damages, yet the Democrats are afraid to engage the topic at the level they have in the past because of the high level of success...maybe even the fear of looking wrong on the issue that carried them into power in 2006.
What bothers me about this whole situation is that we hit the moment (that I have talked about for years now) the war takes a turn so drastic that even the high and mighty media is admitting its high level of progress, the entire issue becomes null and void! We put so much effort into these epic, elaborate debates (see the photo) but the main issue of our time is being ignored? Why is it the positives of this war remain silent, even when the effort reaches the point where its producing so many of them?
The answer is political agenda...and it goes far beyond the politicians these days.
By the way, the left is still sticking to their whole "we should get out as soon as we can" dribble, but as stated before on this site, their reasons as to why are constantly subject to change. Again, another trait of the typical liberal today; they continue to drive the issue into the ground even after loosing the debate.
Thats right hippie, you lost. (See, my sense of humor is still intact despite military training)
posted by Carl Soderberg at
7:06 PM
3 Comments:
interesting...cause im pretty sure only you will find your "sense of humor" funny. maybe you should be focusing on your misplaced mindset rather than making lame jokes to try and sell your propagandish points. liberal ideas will save american lives, conservative ideas have only killed us at higher levels...period.
We are paying individual Iraqi's $10 a day to not fight... to the tune of $700,000. That's why the violence is down. It is not the surge, it is not the Iraqi's finally wanting peace, it is money pure and simple. Sad, sad indeed.
Carl,
You should look at the trees as well as the forest. The reason why Republicans aren't mentioning Iraq isn't simply because of "past damages." Yes, troop casualties have declined, but as the article points out, it's hard for Republicans to point to this as proof of winning, because to do so is commodifying human life for political gain. That's ugly.
For Democrats, the issue is also tricky. While I would like them to point out the nitty gritty about Iraq, to do so would put them on the defensive. That doesn't make for good strategy, so in the meantime the Democrats (and Republicans) are responding to the issues that voters are directly concerned about, like health care. That's how campaigns work; candidates respond to their voters.
Carl, it's still too soon for you to hang up another "Mission Accomplished" banner. See, there are a variety of problems with the idea that tracking one statistic (in this case, a death-count) is a measure for success or failure. For one, this doesn't account for particularities within the state of Iraq. For example, Basra has seen among most significant declines in attacks in the country, but US troops have nothing to do with Basra. Instead, British troops were there, and they recently left, which makes a strong statement about leaving the governing in Iraqi hands and working diplomatically instead of militarily. Another example is the Anbar province, which saw significant declines in attacks but no significant troop increase.
So what brought down the attacks? Diplomacy. The roots of Iraq's problems are political. Petraeus claims to acknowledge this, but for all his good intentions (which I don't doubt), he hasn't followed through with the diplomatic work. Nobody has spent enough time on that. The reason why Anbar's been improving is because the Sunnis there were outraged by al-Qaeda's fundamentalist abuses. While the US has helped these Sunnis against al-Qaeda, Petraeus did little to actually convince the Sunnis to come over to our side. (Rather, the convincing was on the part of al-Qaeda's brutality.) Petraeus (or anybody) also hasn't done the diplomatic work needed to boost the legitimacy of Iraq's Shiite government and its army (both of which are threatened by strengthened Sunni militias). That's why Sunnis proclaim that after al-Qaeda, they're going after the Shias next.
In short, the diplomatic work needed to actually stop violence hasn't been done. In late August, al-Sadr called for the Mahdi army to take a 6 month break from fighting--they'll be coming back full force at a time when there's still minimal reconciliation between factions in the federal government and the Sunnis have a renewed fervor against the Shiites. It doesn't help that antagonization between the US and Iran is increasing, and neither side is willing to attempt diplomacy. (This is unfortunate, as the point of diplomacy is to talk to those one doesn't agree with.)
The reason Presidential candidates aren't saying anything about Iraq isn't because Iraq is improving. After all, it's impossible to tell if the surge is working, and the devastation marking 2007 might even argue that it isn't. That's too soon to tell, so the candidates are simply waiting to see how things play out before they act. While not the most assuring idea for either side, it's the most practical for their campaigns.
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