May 2, 2006
Three Years Later: Bush's Mission In Iraq Is Not Accomplished
News from the DNC:
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT
Washington, DC - On May 1, 2003, President Bush dramatically
landed atop an aircraft carrier to proclaim major combat operations over
in Iraq. He gave his speech in front of a banner reading "Mission Accomplished." Three
years later, the war in Iraq has now lasted longer than the Korean War
and the Bush Administration is still continuing their commitment to a
failed strategy in Iraq. Osama bin Laden is still free and Iraq is now
the training camp of choice for tomorrow's terrorists. All the while,
President Bush and Republicans in Congress still refuse to present the
American people a real plan for the long-term success of our mission
in Iraq.
"Since President Bush landed on the USS Lincoln three years ago, more than 2,200 of our brave soldiers have lost their lives and we still don't have a real plan for success in Iraq," said Democratic National Committee Communications Director Karen Finney. "The Administration owes the American people, including our brave troops and their families, more than a PR strategy. The American people want change, not the same failed Bush policies and lack of leadership from Bush Republicans in Congress, both of which have denied the American people the real security they deserve. Democrats will continue to fight to offer Americans real security by making the Iraqi people assume ownership over their own security, providing our troops and the American people with a real plan for success in Iraq, and addressing the real threats still confronting America including Osama Bin Laden, Al Qaeda, Iran, and North Korea."
See below for a new document from DNC Research:
OSAMA BIN LADEN IS STILL FREE
After Attacks Bush Promised To "Smoke Out" Osama Bin Laden And Win The War At All Costs. President Bush said Monday the United States wants terrorism suspect Osama bin Laden "dead or alive." "We will smoke them out of their holes. If he thinks he can hide and run from the United States and our allies he will be sorely mistaken." [AP, 9/15/01; 9/17/01]
Now, Bush "Rarely Mentions" Osama Bin Laden. CBS News reported that "Three-and-a-half years after 9/11 Osama bin Laden remains at large and dangerous. President Bush rarely mentions him anymore." ABC News reported on the President's comments that the US is keeping pressure on bin Laden, stating bluntly that "That's another way of saying the United States is not finding bin Laden." Bush did not mention the latest bin Laden tape when it was released in late April. [CBS, 3/3/05; ABC, 3/3/05; CNN, 4/23/06]
IRAQ NOW MIRED IN CIVIL WAR
Former Iraqi Interim Prime Minister Said Iraq Was In Civil War. Iyad Allawi, former Interim Iraqi Prime Minister and leader of the Iraqi National List, a secular nationalist party made up of Sunnis and Shiites, said that Iraq was already in a civil war. Allawi said, "It is unfortunate that we are in civil war. We are losing each day as an average 50 to 60 people throughout the country, if not more. If this is not civil war, then God knows what civil war is." [BBC, 3/19/06]
Experts Say Iraq Has Been In A Civil War Since 2004. "'By the standard that political scientists use, there's been a civil war going on in Iraq since sovereignty was handed over to the interim government in 2004,' said Stanford University's James Fearon. American military analyst Stephen Biddle says U.S. policy-makers make a mistake if they 'miss the nature of the conflict, which in Iraq is already a civil war between rival ethnic and sectarian groups.'" [AP, 3/15/06; Los Angeles Times, 2/25/06; Washington Times 3/15/06]
VIOLENCE CONTINUES TO RAGE; INSURGENCY GROWS STRONGER
State Department: Iraq Becoming Safe Haven For Terrorists. The State Department's annual terrorism report finds that Iraq is becoming a safe haven for terrorists and has attracted a "foreign fighter pipeline" linked to terrorist plots, cells and attacks throughout the world, a senior State Department official stated. [CNN 4/28/06]
CIA: Iraq Is Insurgency's Most Effective Training Camp. A new classified assessment by the Central Intelligence Agency says Iraq may prove to be an even more effective training ground for Islamic extremists than Afghanistan was in Al Qaeda's early days because it is serving as a real-world laboratory for urban combat. [New York Times, 6/22/05]
Failure to Establish Functioning Government Is Feeding Insurgency in Iraq. Creating a functioning national unity government is "key to quietening both the Sunni insurgency and the danger posed by Shia militias," said Lieutenant General Peter Chiarelli, commander of the US-led multinational corps in Iraq. The delay in forming a government is seen as a big obstacle to restoring order. Since the December elections, American officials have pushed Iraqi elected officials to form a balanced national unity government. During the nearly four-month delay, the country has been rocked by violence with increasingly sectarian overtones. [Financial Times, 4/27/06; Chicago Tribune, 4/27/06]
IRAQI SECURITY FORCES STILL STRUGGLING
Paramilitary Commando Units May Have Been Infiltrated. "U.S. troops aren't just training Iraqi forces, they're also watching for signs they could be moonlighting in the Shiite death squads that target Sunnis. Sunni Arabs say their people are the victims of Shiite militiamen who have infiltrated government forces, especially paramilitary commando units of the Shiite-led Interior Ministry." [Washington Post, 4/24/06]
Military Said U.S. Troops Now Placed Within Iraqi Police Units Over Concern That Militia Has Infiltrated. "At a recent press conference, US military spokesman Major General Rick Lynch said that infiltration of the police by Shiite militias was a problem the U.S. military was working to solve by placing an increased number of U.S. troops with Iraqi police units, as the military has done with the Iraqi Army. 'There is that concern on the part of some Iraqis that if you don't have American forces, these forces are going to do the wrong thing,' Lynch said. 'There are indeed some displaced loyalties. We're going to work through that in the course of the next year,' Lynch added." [Christian Science Monitor, 4/20/06]
NO STRAIGHT ANSWERS ON HOW MANY IRAQI TROOPS ARE TRAINED
Bush Said In November That American Troops Will Withdraw as Iraqi Troops "Become More Capable." Bush said "My commanders tell me that as Iraqi forces become more capable, as [they] gain experience and the political process advances, we will be able to decrease our troop levels in Iraq without losing our capability to defeat the terrorists." [Bush Speech in Annapolis, 11/30/05]
Myers Said 100 Iraqi Security Force Battalions Needed To Start Standing Down U.S. Forces. Sen. Levin asked Gen. Myers "How many Iraqi battalions, approximately, will need to be judged capable of operating independently of U.S. forces for the standing down to begin?" Myers replied "The fact is, we want to have 100 Iraqi security force army battalions ready." [Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing, 6/30/05]
TROOPS SENT TO WAR WITHOUT THE EQUIPMENT THEY NEEDED
Soldiers Not Given Body Armor Needed. Over a year after the beginning of the Iraq war, soldiers being deployed to Iraq were still buying their own body armor. Responding to pressure from Senators, the Administration then sent soldiers to war with body armor they knew had failed ballistics tests, leading to a recall of more than 5,000 armored vests in May 2005. [Periscope Daily Defense News, 5/11/05; AP, 3/26/04; FNS, Hearing of the Defense Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, 5/12/04; Marine Corps Times, 5/9/05]
Pentagon Study Found that 80 Percent Of Marines Killed By Wounds To Upper Body Could Have Been Saved If They Had the Right Kind of Armor. A Pentagon study has found that as many as 80 percent of the marines who have been killed in Iraq from wounds to the upper body could have survived if they had had extra body armor. Such armor has been available since 2003, but until recently the Pentagon has largely declined to supply it to troops despite calls from the field for additional protection, according to military officials. [New York Times, 1/7/06]
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT