Iraqi Politicians and the Summer Vacation: They Leave but America Won’t

Repeatedly we hear from President George Bush that the Iraqi government, leading its now-liberated people out of the dark years of Saddam Hussein’s repression, is doing all it can to strengthen its troops and bring peace and stability to the country. Mr. Bush has an odd definition of ‘liberated,’ and also neglects to mention that Iraq had relative peace and stability until he decided to embark on his disgraceful ‘pre-emptive’ strike against that nation. But that aside, we are told of the efforts of Nouri al-Maliki and others to take control of their own country.

Such efforts must be terribly straining for the Iraqi government leaders; as a result they are planning a two-month summer vacation. They will take that time to travel to undisclosed locations to relax from the emotional strain of watching American soldiers and Iraqi civilians die. It is hoped that, following this interlude, they will return better equipped to deal with the difficulties and unpleasantness inherent in counting dead bodies.

Unfortunately, most of the Iraqi population will not be able to accompany them. They will be busy attempting to go to the local market without being killed by American soldiers or freedom fighters opposing them, attend sacred shrines with the same risk, and will send their children out to play, not knowing if those children will ever return. They will not be able to relax in their homes, because they never know when American soldiers will break down their doors, search their home, and drag all males over the age of 12 away to prisons at unknown locations for indeterminate lengths of time. They will spend their summer in the terror that was unleashed upon them by the United States over four years ago.

Keeping busy is sometimes the best way to deal with such stresses. Many Iraqis accomplish this by spending time burying their loved ones, brutally murdered either by American soldiers, or caught in the crossfire as Iraqi freedom fighters oppose the Americans. While Mr. Bush characterizes such deaths as murder by ‘insurgents,’ when innocent people are killed by Americans it is only ‘collateral damage.’ A rose by any other name…..

While the stressed-out Iraqi politicians get their much-needed relaxation, American soldiers, some on their third tour of duty in Iraq, will get instead an additional three months in that country. The fact that their families back home must endure the unspeakable strain of having loved ones in a war zone cannot be considered; in Mr. Bush’s war of choice soldiers are expendable, as demonstrated by the lack of protections they receive when sent into battle, and the neglect injured soldiers experience when they return home.

After all, those soldiers back for a second or third tour of duty have had nearly a year at home. This gives them the opportunity to become reacquainted with their spouses and children, and try to make up some of the financial loss they experienced by being away. They can also use this time to attempt to deal with any nightmares or other difficulties they may have as a result of their war experiences. Not that they can get much help from veterans’ hospitals: waiting lists and eligibility requirements put a damper on any such idea for many of them. But spending money on veterans does not, apparently, qualify as ‘supporting the troops.’

Mr. Bush talks again and again about milestones that the Iraqis must reach, but refuses to issue consequences if they fail. Without any strong incentive to accomplish much, Iraqi politicians can feel comfortable taking their extended vacations while American soldiers try their best to do whatever it is they are supposed to be doing in Iraq. That country’s politicians will return in late summer, rested and relaxed, and better able to continue arguing about the distribution of Iraq’s oil, and what to do about the exclusion of Sunnis from employment due to their Baath party membership. They may note the number of deaths their citizens have suffered in their absence, and may issue a noble-sounding statement about the great sacrifices the Americans have made. Certainly, well-rested and relaxed, they will be generous in their fine words.

In Washington D.C., members of Congress will continue to show their indignation at such callous behavior by those supposedly responsible for America’s newest colony. Rep. Chris Shays, R-CT, called the planned vacation “the outrage of outrages.” Sen. John Warner, R-VA, declared the two-month recess to be “not acceptable.” It is said that disdain for this two-month plan is all the Democrats and Republicans agree upon regarding Iraq.

Mr. Bush points to whatever he can to show the desire Iraqis have for his brand of democracy. But what is more telling than highly-publicized elections is the cavalier attitude of Iraq’s political leadership. If that leadership had any belief that America would soon depart, taking its death dealing with it, there would be round-the-clock efforts to reach agreements to establish some semblance of peace and security. Mr. Bush says that America’s commitment to Iraq is not open-ended, yet he vetoes a bill that would place an end date on that commitment. He has stated that a future president, not he, will decide when American soldiers leave Iraq. Since he leaves office in January of 2009, that means that he fully expects the war to continue for at least another two years.

The U.S. invasion of Iraq was planned on the president’s lies and perpetrated by the weakness of the American Congress whose members chose to believe those lies in an apparent effort to appear ‘strong on defense,’ resurrecting a time-honored bugaboo of American politics. The current crop of Democratic presidential candidate wannabes, with few exceptions, all supported the invasion. Now that American soldiers are trapped in the quicksand of a war that the U.S. can only lose they struggle to justify their votes, or simply apologize for them.

What is needed now is leadership, and what the world gets from American politicians is sound bites. What’s needed is courage; what the world gets is equivocation. What’s needed are facts; what’s given is spin.

As Congress discusses and debates its next move regarding funding of the war, people are dying by the thousands. America has made a colossal, dangerous mess in the Mideast, and continued participation there only worsens it. It appears that Mr. Bush wants to run out the clock, keeping U.S. soldiers in Iraq, asking for patience for his failing strategy, the troop ‘surge,’ to work, while he counts the days until his catastrophic presidency ends. Then he can blame the loss of the war on his successor.

Mr. Bush should know, but one must not expect that he does, that his reputation is not the only thing on the line, nor is it by any stretch of the imagination the most important. Every U.S. soldier who deploys to Iraq puts his or her life on the line. The life of every citizen of Iraq is on the line. These people will not have a presidential library to contain their papers; they merely want to be able to live with their families in relative peace, with the opportunity of seeing their grandchildren grow up. With each day that Mr. Bush stubbornly continues this war, he violates these simple, basic desires for untold numbers of people. Congress abets this horror with its failure to pass a defunding bill and override Mr. Bush’s veto.

Mr. Bush has said that he sleeps well at night. Such a statement tells much about America’s commander-in-chief.