After the fall of Baghdad, right-wing commentators-Republicans in Congress, Washington think-tank fellows and directors, essayists for newsmagazines, what have you-streamed onto cable news channels. And in the process of proclaiming their unbridled joy, some of them began to demand pounds of flesh from those opposed to the war.
Take Hugh Hewitt, a columnist for The Weekly Standard and a talk-show host on the Salem Radio Network (a conservative-slash-Christian outfit), who told Keith Olbermann of MSNBC that he was \waiting for their apologies.""
But the war is not over just yet. Yes, Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal said on Monday that the major combat of the war is over. And that is true enough-the recent fall of Tikrit brings the journey of our military to an end, for the moment. However, that does not mean that the fighting in Iraq is done. It will suffice to say that the transition from invasion army to peacekeeping force has not been a smooth one thus far. And the dangers-from snipers, guerrillas, suicide bombers, arsonists and looters-will persist for some time.
And then there is the fact that the war has not really been won. Certainly, the term ""win"" has varying definitions. Hewitt and scores of commentators apparently subscribe to the Toby Keith school of thought in this regard-to their minds, we have to ""put a boot in their ass"" and can now go on our way. But the goal of our foreign policy was, supposedly, to protect America from future acts of terrorism.
And our government decided that the benefits of removing Saddam Hussein from power were worth the cost of running around and over skeptical nations. In this respect, the media have focused on the administration's reaction towards the French, German and Russian governments. However, those nations were not the only ones that were trampled by our march to war.
Take Canada, for instance. U.S. Ambassador Paul Cellucci told the Economic Club of Toronto on March 25 that ""there is no security threat to Canada that the United States would not be ready, willing and able to help with. There would be no debate. There would be no hesitation. We would be there for Canada-part of our family. And that is why so many in the United States are so disappointed and upset that Canada is not fully supporting us now.""
Now that particular event provides only an example of arrogance-writ large, and offered to a nation that deserves much better than a paternalistic guilt trip. But if you are looking for downright stupid behavior, you have to go to the days before the war started.
At that time, the White House was still feigning interest in collecting support from strategically important countries. One of those nations was Turkey. The United States tried to simply persuade the Turkish government. That did not work. Then, the White House tried to buy Turkey off by offering a $15 billion aid package. The Turkish parliament narrowly rejected that offer.
At that point, the Bush administration basically gave up. And from the president on down, the administration was unconcerned about this failure because they had determined that, in the words of White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, the United States would be ""militarily successful"" without Turkish involvement.
And the White House was right-but, again, only in the very narrowest of senses. Was the military operation successful in bringing down the Hussein regime? Yes. But while the fighting raged in southeastern Iraq, the western frontier was wide open. This allowed paramilitary volunteers and suicide bombers to enter the country, and may have allowed government officials-those who are still alive, anyway-to escape into Syria. If we were able to open a northern front via Turkey-not with a handful of special forces, but with a full division-we could have secured those western borders. But the administration was in a hurry. ""No time to think things through,"" they said, in essence. ""We have a regime to change.""
And remember this: for every video montage of celebrating Iraqis and falling statues, there are pictures of grieving families, weeping uncontrollably over the broken bodies of dead and injured civilians. And these images are being beamed into every household in the Arab world. Rightly or wrongly, some who see the ghastly pictures-those that the American media have not shown-will not see the United States as a benefactor, but rather as a target for their rage and frustration.
So, chaos reigns in Baghdad. Our relationship with the international community is in disarray. Terrorism has not been defeated. And the errors of the past may be compounded by an invasion of Syria in the coming months.
Hugh Hewitt will have to forgive me. I am not ready to apologize for being against this war just yet.
