An Unending Episode of Mission Impossible

Four years ago today George Bush decided it was time to grandstand on the deck of an aircraft carrier and announce that our mission in Iraq had been accomplished – that major combat operations had come to an end. It’s hard to recall another moment at least in recent history when the President of the United States has been so wrong. Many people in the U.S. and Iraq have paid dearly for the president’s mistake.

Since that day four years ago, thousands of Americans have died; tens of thousands of Americans have been wounded; tens of thousands of Iraqi have died; hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been wounded; and millions of Iraqis have been displaced.

As for the war on terrorism, the terrorists have become for more numerous, far more active, and far more deadly than they were on May 1, 2003. NPR broadcast an analysis this morning that makes that point in simple terms. Four years ago, there were an estimated 5,000 Sunni insurgents in Iraq – now, there are 25,000. Four years ago, there were an estimated 5,000 Shiite militiamen in Iraq – now, there are 50,000.

Iraq has become a festering breeding ground for terrorism. Before the war, there were no organized al Qaeda operations in Iraq – now, there are. Before the war, there was no alignment between Iraq and Iran, the largest supporter of terrorism in the world – now, there is.

In 2006, there were 14,338 terrorist attacks around the world, an increase of 28.5% compared to 2005. In 2006, there were 20,498 people killed in terrorist attacks around the world, an increase of 40.2% compared to 2005.

Four years after “shock and awe” pummeled the Baghdad infrastructure, most of the residents in that city still don’t have electricity during the daytime or a working sewage system. But, in that regard, they aren’t particularly different than the residents of Washington, DC. There is very little light being generated in that city, either, and the effluent being generated in Washington continues to flow almost unabated from the broken decision-making systems that underlie that city. Washington got pummeled by “shock and awe” almost as badly as Baghdad did.

Mission accomplished? Not hardly; not even close. We’ve been fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq longer than it took to defeat Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. We won that two-front war because we had a clearly defined military mission that could be accomplished. We will not win the war militarily in Afghanistan and Iraq because we’re trapped in an unending episode of Mission Impossible.