CUTTING AND RUNNING

May 28, 2004 - As we wake up this morning Fallujah, the scene of a stalemated siege just a month ago, is quiet. Uniformed soldiers now quietly patrol its streets. They are not US Marines. America’s shock troops don’t enter the city. The uniforms are those of a US financed Iraqi Security Force and the commander used to work for Saddam Hussein. A month ago Fallujah was a battleground where Secretary of Defense threatened to annihilate an unholy alliance of Saddamist “bitter enders” and “foreign fighters”. Today those same fighters wear uniforms, brag about having defeated the Americans and, commanded by a Ba`athist General, impose a version of Islamic Law that more resembles Taliban Afghanistan than a New Free Iraq. What happened? What changed?

As we wake up this morning American forces are preparing to withdraw from Najaf. A week ago al Sadr and his Mehdi militia were bottled up in the Shiite holy city. General Sanchez vowed to capture or kill al Sadr and destroy his Mehdi Army. For a month we have been hearing the body counts from the continuing engagement with the rag-tag militia. The Mehdi losses we claimed to have inflicted Today our army is pulling back, al Sadr is neither dead nor in captivity and the Mehdi militia is still defiant, and our soldiers are still being ambushed. What happened? What changed?

In Fallujah and in Najaf we faced an enemy lightly armed with overwhelming force. In both cases we had the capacity to crush our adversaries albeit with a cost. Urban warfare, house to house conflict, eliminates much of the advantage of heavy arms but had the issue been joined there was no doubt of the outcome. But in neither case was the issue joined. What happened? What changed? Who decided on the retreat?

In speech after speech the President pledges to stay the course, to persevere, to defeat the enemy. On the ground the course is unclear and ever changing and American arms, with the undoubted capacity to defeat the enemy, are stayed in place. The courage of America’s soldiers has not failed nor has their ability to carry the fight to the enemy waned in the year and a month since the President declared victory in Iraq.. If there is a failure of courage its address is 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Surrendering Fallujah to the Republican Guard and Najaf to the Shiites were not episodes of courage. Nor does either represent a reasoned military decision. The President simply does not have the political courage to absorb the casualties necessary to defeat our enemies. It is an election year and the decision is driven by the polling results that show as the casualty count goes up the President’s approval rate goes down.  The resolute words of the speeches contrast with the faltering performance on the ground.  The President’s ever changing exit strategy is simply “Cut and Run” on the installment plan.