Somber Anniversary

I’m still optimistic about Iraq settling down once the holidays pass and the Marines demonstrate that they’re not going anywhere (the alternative is too bleak to contemplate), but this account of where we stand, one year after the fall of Hussein, is not how I’d have predicted the story would be told at this point.

Some selected observations from L.A. Times writer John Daniszewski :

One year ago today, I walked down an empty stretch of Sadoun Street toward the pointed gun barrels of Marines who had just reached the center of Baghdad. Perhaps it was dangerous, but I felt only relief and elation. The arrival of the Marines meant the 21-day war was over, and Iraq would have the possibility of a better, peaceful future.

On that day, I was soon surrounded as happy Iraqis, no longer shut in with their fears, came pouring into the streets.

Today, I can no longer walk down Sadoun Street. As an American, it is not safe for me to do so. During my last trip to Iraq a few weeks ago, I could only drive past the cafes, shops and ice cream parlors where I had once lingered. With assassins in the streets on the lookout for Western interlopers, the shopkeepers and restaurateurs seemed to wish that I would just move on, quickly.

This next observation strikes me as perhaps the biggest mistake the US made:

…back in May, most Iraqis had an open mind about the U.S.-led occupation and hailed the removal of Hussein. Most expected the U.S. to quickly call a council of opposition parties, set up a new government and prepare to leave the country.

But the replacement of Garner with L. Paul Bremer III in mid-May brought another series of shocks to the Iraqi population. Bremer said it was too early for any grand council or turnover of meaningful power to Iraqis. He abolished the Iraqi army, saying that its soldiers had in effect dissolved the army by fleeing during the war. That pen stroke left about 500,000 men desperate for work, creating a reservoir of anger that would come back to haunt the U.S. leadership.

And I don’t know if I believe this next one, but it’s noteworthy:

The capture of Hussein in a “spider hole” close to his home village near Tikrit in December seemed at first as if it might deflate the former Baathists and intelligence officers who seemed to be the backbone of the resistance.

But in some ways it liberated them. No longer encumbered by the crimes of their former leader, they could style themselves as patriots for Iraq and win over more of the public in a nationalistic struggle against America.

So it’s hard. We knew it would be. What made us believe that we were any good at nation building remains a mystery to me, but we’d better learn and quickly. I heard the brother of a Marine who died in Fallujah say on the Today Show a day ago or so that we had accomplished our mission there…why are we still there?

I respectfully disagree. Our mission is no where near complete. Nothing would make the loss we’ve already seen less meaningful in my eyes than for us to pull out at this point. We certainly would be no safer than we were a year ago if we did.