An
Unfinished Mission,
The
Washington Post, May 4, 2003
THE VICTORY celebration
held aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln Thursday was well-deserved, both for
President Bush and for the servicemen who cheered him. Thanks to those who
gathered on the carrier's deck and their comrades in arms, Saddam Hussein's
homicidal hold on Iraq was broken in three weeks, with relatively small, if
painful, losses of Iraqi and American lives. None of the disasters feared before
the war has come to pass: neither burning oil fields nor bloody street-to-street
battles; neither Arab revolutions nor armed interventions by Iraq's neighbors.
Mr. Bush acknowledged before the war that these risks were real, but argued that
they were outweighed by the risks of not acting: So far, he has been proved
right. Nor can there now be any doubt that most Iraqis welcomed the ouster of
Saddam Hussein and the elimination of his apparatus of terror. When the horrors
of the Baathist regime -- now being confirmed in terrible but necessary detail
-- are set against even the destruction and deaths of the war, it's impossible
not to conclude that the United States and its allies have performed a great
service for Iraq's 23 million people.
Still, it's also
impossible to agree with the banner that was draped near Mr. Bush on the carrier
deck, proclaiming "Mission Accomplished." Aides say the slogan was
chosen in part to mark a presidential turn toward domestic affairs as his
campaign for reelection approaches. But neither Mr. Bush nor the American public
can afford to put Iraq on the back burner. There is much to be done; the
greatest tests and risks still lie in the future. Perhaps Mr. Bush understands
that reality; yet his reluctance to fully explain it to Americans or to work for
the support he will need is troubling.
Remarkably, Mr. Bush
described the Iraqi victory mainly as an episode in the war on terrorism,
focusing on purported connections among Iraq, al Qaeda, and the attacks of 9/11
that have yet to be firmly established. He failed to mention Saddam Hussein and
devoted only one sentence of 22 words to weapons of mass destruction -- which
the United States presented to the United Nations and the world as the decisive
reason for military action. Odds are that the dictator will eventually be found,
and evidence that has surfaced so far strongly suggests that illegal weapons or
weapons programs will be uncovered as well. But the Bush administration should
not treat the matter as an afterthought: The weapons could still prove deadly to
Americans if they are not secured, and American credibility will be seriously
damaged if proof of chemical, biological or nuclear arms is not eventually
produced and certified by U.N. inspectors or other independent experts.
Even more important will
be the consolidation of a democratic government in Iraq. Mr. Bush has now
promised this outcome so often and unambiguously that he has greatly raised the
stakes of achieving it; in particular, the future of American relations with the
Arab world is riding on it. Mr. Bush noted in passing on Thursday that the
transition "will take time," but he has done little to prepare
Americans for the large and sustained commitment of U.S. troops and resources
that will be needed. He may even be kidding himself: Though history shows that
it has taken many years and a coalition of nations to successfully guide other
countries from dictatorship to representative government, Pentagon officials are
racing to unilaterally put together an Iraqi transitional government within a
month and speak glibly of completing the process within a year or two.
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