ISG Report Yields Troubling Facts

Last Wednesday’s report from the Iraq Study Group has been Washington's main point of discussion for the last five days. On the right, the neo-cons and their fellow travelers are claiming it’s a recipe for defeat. Near the center, it was hailed as a way forward. To the left, it was a disappointment. What is most interesting, given that the president has no intention of relying on it, was the set of facts it reported showing just how messed up the situation is.

The first surprising issue is the damage the war has done to America’s military readiness. While no one can be surprised by the fact that combat wears out equipment, the extent to which this has happened is shocking. The report suggests “Congress should appropriate sufficient funds to restore the equipment over the next five years.” Read carefully, it is clear that it will take 5 years to undo the damage done. While it may be possible to buy sufficient small arms ammunition right off the shelf, tank treads, Humvees with armor, and the like take time to make. In other words, no matter what else happens, America’s military readiness will not recover until 2011, at the earliest.

Another troubling surprise is the legal situation in Iraq-Nam. Granted it is a bit odd to speak of legalities in the middle of a civil war, but the Iraqi Green Zone government has been around for six months and it should have addressed some smaller issues. Yet is hasn’t. For example, the report states, “The Iraqi Police Service currently numbers roughly 135,000 and is responsible for local policing. It has neither the training nor legal authority to conduct criminal investigations, nor the firepower to take on organized crime, insurgents, or militias.” The sad truth is buried in the middle of the quotation. The Iraqi police don’t have the legal authority to investigate crimes. What good are they, then? And how difficult would it be to pass a law allowing them to do their jobs? What political leader would vote against it? And what is "local policing" if not invetigating crime?

Further, it seems the US authorities have not only deceived the American people in this misbegotten war, but also they have deceived themselves. On page 95 of the report, the ISG says, “For example, on one day in July 2006 there were 93 attacks or significant acts of violence reported. Yet a careful review of the reports for that single day brought to light 1,100 acts of violence.” Why? “A murder of an Iraqi is not necessarily counted as an attack. If we cannot determine the source of a sectarian attack, that assault does not make it into the database. A roadside bomb or a rocket or mortar attack that doesn’t hurt US personnel doesn’t count.” If mortar doesn’t hit a US soldier, it isn’t an attack? One wonders how the troops who were missed by inches feel about that.

The report’s recommendations will form the basis of whatever discussion follows with regard to Iraq-Nam. Yet, the recommendations are not the troubling part. The facts upon which they are based, or not based, make the true magnitude of this mistake of a war apparent. The US military is breaking, the Iraqi government can’t even empower its police to investigate robberies, and the Pentagon doesn’t even know how many attacks there are in the country on any given day. The way forward looks more and more like the exit.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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