Gallipoli or Stalingrad: Congress Must End the Lost Iraq War

by Paul Sullivan

September 18, 2007 - While television news overdoses us with distractions about OJ Simpson’s latest arrest, Blackwater USA was busy recklessly killing more civilians in lawless Iraq.  Furthermore, while President George W. Bush and General David H. Petraeus spin tales of success without defining success, they run out the clock on the last 16 months of Bush’s term.  This is a recipie for disaster.

The latest Blackwater killings will surely challenge the legitimacy of Iraq’s limited sovereignty as they try to evict the mercenaries.  With one blunder after another since the unilateral and pre-emptive invasion began 54 months ago, the situation only worsens for everyone touched by the Iraq War.

Amidst this maelstrom raining bullets and bombs, what Americans want to know most is when our troops will return safely home.  Redeployment will take an informed and engaged American public, thorough military and political planning, plus bold Congressional action to stop Bush’s violent, ideological, and imperial hubris.

First, the public needs to be armed with the facts so they can aggressively lobby Congress for a prompt exit.  The worst-case scenario of anarchy and humanitarian disaster already exists: 1.2 million Iraqi civilian deaths, 2 million refugees, 2 million internally displaced persons, no reconstruction, no power, no water, no jobs, no billions of dollars in expected oil revenue, and bodies piling up on the street as the U.S. pumps billions of dollars of additional weapons into an Iraq already armed to the teeth. 

In the reality-based world largely unreported by the press, the Iraq War toll keeps mounting: U.S. Military deaths approach 4,000, and U.S. contractor and mercenary deaths exceed 1,000.  More than 250,000 U.S. veteran casualties were treated at VA hospitals.  The total cost to U.S. taxpayers is estimated at $2 trillion, including $700 billion to care for an estimated 700,000 veteran patients over the next 40 years.

For both nations, there are broken families, lost jobs, and crushed communities because Bush had no plan to occupy and rebuild Iraq, and no plan to care for our wounded, injured, and ill war veterans.  Religious tolerance is shattered, and the region is overflowing with the terrorists created by Bush’s bungled invasion and occupation.

An engaged public can use facts and kick Congress in the shorts. Americans should peacefully assemble in the lobby of every TV station, radio station, newspaper, and Congressional office to petition for an end to the senseless slaughter.  Freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and the freedom to petition are our rights.  Unless we use them, we'll get beaten and tasered one at a time just like the student in Florida, and then fear will rule.

Second, the military must assert their responsibility to protect our troops from annihilation and develop a responsible exit strategy.  This means reconciliation among warring Iraqi factions, not the use of the ham-fisted approach of U.S. military dominance.  Planning includes evacuating our service members, our contractors, our equipment, our ammunition stockpiles, and our billions in unspent U.S. taxpayer cash sitting useless in Iraqi banks.  Planning must also take into consideration equipment provided to the Iraqis and safe haven for Iraqis who face death after U.S. forces depart.

Planning must involve a political solution with significant participation by the United Nations, non-government organizations, and nearby nations to provide food, water, electricity, and civil government. Someone must eventually repatriate millions of refugees and internally displaced persons as well as restore the professional class of doctors, lawyers, and engineers required to keep a nation on an even keel.  And the Pentagon must work with VA to make sure all our wounded, injured, and ill are provided prompt and thorough medical care and benefits.

Third, Congress must make a difficult choice.  Will the Democratic-controlled Congress allow Bush to continue the lost Iraq War that harms our troops, humiliates our Nation, and destroys the best military in the world, and thus get equal blame?

Will Bush, clinging to his last gasp of exaggerated hubris and his rigid ideology cause a massive American defeat similar to what faced Adolf Hitler at Stalingrad in late 1942? Desperate for oil and to capture Joseph Stalin’s namesake city, Hitler refused to retreat, even though withdrawal was the only viable option.

Or, will Congress represent the overwhelming will of the people and use their power of the purse to order Bush to begin a responsible and orderly withdrawal?  Will Congress create a situation for Bush to save face, similar to the British retreat from Gallipoli in 1915?  Recognizing failure, top British generals were fired, an orderly retreat from the Ottoman Empire was ordered, and British troops returned home to fight another day.

(And when the troops return, Congress must investigate and hold accountable those who lied to start the war, those who failed to plan for the war, those who failed to plan for the occupation, and those who failed to provide prompt medical care and benefits to our veterans.)

If the people, military, and Congress don’t act in unison, then the deaths, wounds, emotional scars, deprivation, and economic loss will further decline into chaos.  So long as both parties in Congress fail to use their Constitutional powers, they remain enablers for the worst global devastation since World War II.

This boils down to the issue of who supports our troops.  If you want Bush to recklessly send more troops to die, then you don’t support our troops.  If want a responsible plan to bring our troops home and provide them prompt, high-quality medical care and benefits, then you support our troops.

The long-term impact of the recent Blackwater killings may be catastrophic.  We should expect another wave of violent unrest.  Failure to withdraw U.S. troops, mercenaries, contractors, and Christian proselytizers will only further destabilize Iraq and then engulf Iran. If the battlefield expands to Iran, then the use of devastating U.S. nuclear weapons becomes more likely because there are no U.S. ground forces available to fight Iran.

If the U.S. – Iraq War spills over into Iran, then our entire planet becomes a gambling chip placed on a craps table in a casino where George W. Bush has a Bible, nuclear weapons, and the dice that keep rolling snake eyes.