The Zarqawi Opportunity

In the fall of 2002 the Bush administration used it’s political capital to put pressure on Iraq. The administration along with congress demanded Iraq readmit UN weapon inspectors into the country. After 5 months of looking Hans Blix, head of the UN investigation of Iraq, strongly requested more time to search for weapons in Iraq. At this point the Bush administration could have claimed a great success. With a limited use of political pressure and resources the President was able to get inspectors back on the ground in Iraq and focus attention once more on this dangerous regime. Unfortunately the administration was inpatient or set on specific results that the inspectors weren’t giving him. Whatever the motive the administration began the invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003. This decision came with the burden of great expense and loss. The invasion has cost thousands of lives, billions of dollars and the diplomatic respect of the U.S. from the rest of the world. The Iraqi military was defeated, and Baghdad fell on April 9, 2003. Had we a plan and infrastructure in place to secure the peace after the fall of Saddam we might have had another great victory against tyranny and moved our military and humanitarian might to other targets in the war on terror. This post war plan never materialized and within the chaos that followed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi rose to prominence.
It is the nature of all politicians to take credit for the hard work of others. George Bush will surly add the killing of Zarqawi to his list of accomplishments. We should remember however that it was the unknown and unnamed men and women of the U.S. armed forces that took the risks, made the sacrifices and did the job. When given goals that have clear objectives and targets our military shines as the most efficient and effective in the world. Finding and ultimately killing Abu Musab al-Zarqawi took all the skills and perseverance our service men and women have to give. The Bush administration should not receive credit for successes without acknowledging the mistakes they have made creating the situation that we have today. That having been said, I would be willing to pin a medal on President Bush myself if I thought he would use this opportunity to begin pulling our forces out of harms way in Iraq. With the removal of Zarqawi and the dismantling of his network violence that he caused should diminish in the days to come. Pulling even a symbolic number of troops back and out of the country would signal a possible end to it at last. Hope, not only for our forces but the nation of Iraq itself. Such a move toward the end of the occupation would boost poll numbers for the President, encourage Republican voters this November and let Iraqis know that we are not there to stay. The message we could now send to people of Iraq is that our faith and our hope lies with them and not with our military might to bring about a better Iraqi nation. I, of all people, don’t want to see George Bush given undue credit for cleaning up messes he helped create but, if the price of success in Iraq is credit given to the President then so be it. Taking advantage of this opportunity now will add to Republican prospects in the coming elections. Democrats should do everything they can to help and encourage the administration to take advantage of this new opportunity, even at the expense of their own political position come November. The gate is closing rapidly on another opportunity to change world events for the better. To take full advantage of the heroism of those that brought justice to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi it will take a united effort of Democrat and Republican. I hope election year politics don’t get in the way of this chance at a hopeful Iraq we all want.