War is Sell

Six years after 9/11, our President is commemorating the events of that day by lying to us directly and through his Administration about not only the so-called war on terror, but about the war in Iraq. The "Petraeus Report" has finally come and gone and no longer can Right Wing hacks hide behind the phrase "let's wait for the general's report." Now, their view is a rosy one about a situation that is anything but. This view must be pressed to further President Bush's only goal, which, as I've written before, is to perpetuate the war long enough to hang it on the next President. Sick, yes, but ever so fitting. The "surge" is the cause-of-the-moment in this plan, so I want to note a few things after the report has been given.

• The general reported that there would be a very nominal draw-down of forces that could take place immediately. The number is about 3,000 to 5,000 troops, just as I hinted it would be in The Sick "Surge" for History on 7 September 2007. This allows Bush to trumpet that he's actually withdrawing forces, providing cover for continuing action, with the further goal of hamstringing war opponents who can no longer say that Bush isn't bringing anyone home.
• The general reported that all of the troops put into Iraq under the surge could be home by next July. This is the further carrot of "we are focused on draw-down too," without having to actually bring significant numbers of forces home. When pressed on making this withdrawal date official, the general said -- surprisingly! -- "nope, that would not be wise." Thus, the war goes on with the increased number of troops... with no end in sight.
• The reason given for the surge in the first place was not a military one; it was political. The surge would provide the stability for the political forces in Iraq to come together and form a unified central government that could then guide the country to peace. What happened was that the government went on summer vacation and is now all but disolved. Now, there is no mention of the surge having a political justification by the Administration and the goal of a central Iraqi government is morphing to an amorphous body of regional governments. Again, whatever keeps the war moving.
• The relative peace in Anbar province is being tauted by the general as proof of the surge's effectiveness. However, his own testimony before Congress last January made it clear that the transformation in Anbar about which he now speaks was well under way at that time and has progressed with little or no support from surge forces since.
• As I've noted repeatedly in recent posts, the body count numbers given by the Administration, including by the general in his report, to justify the results of the surge are bogus in their entirety. Simply put, they are lying to us about the levels of violence. One way that they are doing this is simply cooking the books by changing the methodology of the count (e.g. switching from the methodology used in the first four years of the war to an entirely new methodology, one that favors less counting of violent incidents). Another is to focus on regions where sectarian violence has already been so great as to make further violence unnecessary. After all, when a region has been ethnically cleansed, who is left to kill? Ultimately, this is the callous use of the death and dismemberment of Americans and Iraqis alike for political gain. Sick, but not surprising.
• Finally, I'll note two things that prove that nothing has changed for the better in Iraq, surge or no surge. They are the supply of clean water and electricity to the people of Iraq. The people of Baghdad enjoy about two hours of electricity a day, down from as many as six at the start of 2007. Running water comes and goes and is not reliable. This translates not only into a poor quality of life in terms of enjoyment, but also a lack of refrigeration for food and medicine, a lack of air conditioning in the brutal summer heat, and a lack of sewage services among other things. The people of Baghdad are rightly "frustrated" about this state of affairs, one that the American occupation has created and has been unable to correct in any fashion. (Other parts of Iraq have it better, but in no areas are electricity and running water a stable given.) Proof of that can be found in a recent change in the way that the Administration reports on the situation to Congress, namely it no longer reports how long the power stays on in Baghdad. Called "quality-of-life indicators" they are required reports to Congress. The Administration, however, has sought to play with their form. Instead of reporting the average amount of time that power is on in specific cities or regions, as it has done previously, the Administration now reports the average for Iraq as a whole. This has allowed them to inflate the numbers, making the situation look far better than it actually is. This is especially true for Baghdad, the focal point for the supposedly-effective surge.

Today is a day of remembrance. Remember the victims of 9/11. Remember those evil men who took their lives. Sadly, we must also remember that our President, who has lied to us from that very day and who lies to us still, has done nothing to make us safer. Indeed, because of his war in Iraq, we are actually much less safe today. That is a horrible memorial for those victims. It is a horrible testament to our love of country. We can do better. We must.

11 September 2007