Iraq, a Bush, and a McCain: Two Peas and One Crappy Decision
By Chad A. B. Wilson
Published March 2, 2007, 2:00 pm in Military / Foreign policy, Voting & Partisanship.
I kept wondering how McCain could say that Rumsfeld was one of the worst secretaries of defense in history. That is, until I listened to NPR this morning.
About a week and a half ago, McCain said this, according to Time:
"I think that Donald Rumsfeld will go down in history as one of the worst secretaries of defense in history."
Time then says that "The comments were in sharp contrast to McCain's statement when Rumsfeld resigned in November, and failed to address the reality that President Bush is the commander in chief.
'While Secretary Rumsfeld and I have had our differences, he deserves Americans' respect and gratitude for his many years of public service,' McCain said last year when Rumsfeld stepped down."
That's a good point, and I couldn't help but wonder what McCain was referring to. Sure, Iraq has gone bad, but to say that a secretary of defense was so bad seems to miss the point. BUsh IS the commander in chief. He IS the guy who sent us into the war. But McCain doesn't really want to say that about Bush. It points out his complicated relationship with Bush: disagree with the guy but try to court the same voters that guy appealed to when he won the last two presidential elections. I admit that my support for McCain is waning, but it's really only because the guy can't distance himself from Bush. He can call Rumsfeld one of the worst secretaries of defenses, but he won't say that Bush made a mistake. And he can't! Saying that Bush made a mistake would ruin his chances as a Republican candidate. Way too many Republicans still support that presidential decision, no matter what the majority of the general population thinks about it. In some ways, McCain is even tougher: he wants a lot more troops in Iraq.
I agree with him there, as I have said before. The only problem is whether we even have the number of troops available to make Iraq winnable.
Anyway, I kept wondering what made McCain single out Rumsfeld, and I still think it's unfair to do so. Bush is the decider, after all.
But then a story came on this morning on NPR's Morning Edition that made me rethink my strategy. The story was "Journalist Examines Iraq Battle In-Depth" about Martha Raddatz's book concerning a battle in Sadr City in 2004:
"Everything they had been told about where they were going, Sadr City, was that it was pretty peaceful, that it would probably be a babysitting mission. And they end up in Iraq pretty much thinking they're going to be passing out candy," Raddatz said.
Knowing what we know now, that's hard to believe. Sadr City was peaceful? Where did they get such crappy information from? It actually wasn't crappy information; according to Raddatz, there had been only one death in Sadr City since the occupation began. It really was pretty peaceful. The problem, though, is that the soldiers were thus not equipped to go into combat. They didn't have the gear for combat. Instead, they were "babysitting." But there was a change in personnel, too. The old army battalion had just left and they didn't show the new group around. The new group didn't have GPS systems or anything. All they knew was that they were supposed to go into Sadr City and keep the peace.
So they went.
And they were ambushed.
And stuck. I mean really stuck. They didn't know where they were; they weren't prepared. They tried to call for backup but they couldn't tell them where to find them. So they holed up in some house and waited for backup to get there. But even the backup didn't have tanks or anything, just a few Humvees, some of which had no armor and at least one with a canvas top. The backup was ambushed, too, and they had to wait it out until a tank finally came to save them.
As they were telling the story, I looked over at my wife, and she had tears running down her cheeks. It really was that sad. To hear about these soldiers dying and fighting against an enemy that they weren't expecting made me cringe. I couldn't believe that we sent our soldiers into such ill-prepared situations.
And then I realized that yes, this was a systemic problem. Our soldiers were NOT prepared for what would happen in Sadr City. They were working with outdated assumptions and no clear leadership. The administration, including Bush and Rumsfeld and Rice and everyone else in the defense and state departments should have briefed this soldiers and prepared them better.
But nope. That's how we treat our soldiers, and it makes me sick.
Don't tell me that there was no way to know. A little research on the leader of Sadr City would have told them.
Don't tell me that Raddatz is biased. I know she's biased. She told the story in a way that was meant to make us feel sad. She obviously has an agenda about the mismanagement of the war. But it doesn't change the fact that these soldiers were underprepared in a quite a few ways--both mentally and with arms.
Don't tell me that it's the upper-level soldiers' fault. In some ways, I know it is. But they aren't researchers; they're soldiers. And they still do what they're told. They're not really qualified to evaluate situations like the mood in Sadr City.
Don't tell me that they're doing the best they can. I know that. The soldiers are fighting hard, and I appreciate what they do. But the government should know better. They shouldn't send soldiers into these areas without the proper training and equipment. They are NOT trying the best they can. From what I can see, they're fighting a war from an ideological standpoint and not facing the realities that the soldiers confront each moment.
I want to appreciate the people in the administration. I want to appreciate Bremer and Bush and Rice. I want to support my government. But with this war dragging on, I find myself pulling away. I find that I cannot support it any longer.
My fear is that it means I can't support McCain. If he is going to stand behind the war, it means he's standing behind Bush, at least in part. And that upsets me. It means that my support for McCain must diminish along with my support for the American government. I need to find another candidate, I think. Yep, it seems to be that simple. But even something so simple can be very difficult.
So who else is there?????
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