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Jewish World Review August 9, 2005 / 4 Av, 5765 War reports — We'd be Brits By Debra J. Saunders
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
The headlines from Iraq couldn't be worse — they announce
suicide bombings, American casualties and roadblocks to Iraqi
self-governance. This week, the mother of slain Vacaville, Calif., soldier
Casey Sheehan camped out at the gate to President Bush's Crawford, Texas,
ranch. She told reporters she wants to ask Bush: "Why did you kill my son?
What did my son die for?" Sheehan wants Bush to send U.S. troops home.
If the American Revolution were fought amidst all this
naysaying, America would be a British colony today. Don't take my word for
it. "1776" author David McCullough recently told CNBC's Tim Russert that if
the Revolutionary War had been covered by today's media, "and the country
had seen how horrible the conditions were, how badly things were being run
by the officers and what a very serious soup we were in, I think that would
have been it, too."
Amid the bad news, I talked to Maj. John Busterud, a Bay Area
lawyer and Army reservist with the 351st Civil Affairs Command of the U.S.
Army, who is serving in Iraq. Busterud phoned to talk about the positive
things he sees "every day in the work we're doing here." It is his job to
work with Iraqi officials to make Iraqi government work. He sees that the
ability of Iraqis "to govern themselves is coming along nicely. But it's not
the sort of thing that makes the evening news at night."
Americans read about the suicide bombings to discourage
citizens from working for the new Iraqi government. Busterud sees Iraqis
lining up to become police. More Iraqi forces are "up and operating on their
own." And, "This doesn't appear in the media much, but we are definitely
taking the fight to the enemy."
Americans read articles about factionalism that divides Sunnis,
Shiites and Kurds. You can look at these differences as "intractable" or see
the arguments as a sign of "a healthy debate," Busterud noted.
I ask Busterud a question posed by war critics: Why don't the
Iraqis adopt the U.S. Constitution? His answer: "I hope people at home
realize this: We are not trying to impose a 100-percent American democracy
on this country. We want them to have ownership," so their new constitution
has to be "a culture- and nation-specific document."
Busterud sees this as an "information war," of sorts:
"Coalition forces have not been defeated in any engagement platoon-size or
larger," but the U.S. effort is "vulnerable," he noted, to media reports
that suggest the insurgents are winning or that terrorists might have a
reasonable justification for murdering civilians. If the bad news prompts
Americans to support calls that U.S. troops cut and run, then "the
terrorists are only encouraged by that."
If Bush did what Cindy Sheehan wants him to do, not only would
some 1,800 soldiers have died in Iraq for no reason — worse, their deaths
will have served the unhappy function of signaling to terrorists that if
they kill enough U.S. troops, the White House will cut and run.
As the major noted, if Americans pushed for a pullout in the wake
of bad news reports, "that would be a shame. I would hope most of my
colleagues and friends in the Bay Area, even some who may have opposed the
war initially," realize the benefit in completing the mission and "are now
saying we should see this through."
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Comment JWR contributor Debra J. Saunders's column by clicking here. © 2005, Creators Syndicate |
Arnold Ahlert | |||||||||||
