George Bush and the Iraq War in Early 2004
In late spring 2004 the Bush administration was trying to redefine U.S. policy in Iraq. 2004 was a presidential election year, insurgent attacks were increasing in Iraq, the American public had been shocked by vivid pictures of torture at the Abu Ghraib prison complex in Iraq, and a May 2004 CBS national poll showed that less than 50% of Americans surveyed approved of President Bush’s performance. The goal of bringing Democracy to the Middle East was in peril and the administration had to move swiftly to restore eroding support from the electorate.
Deteriorating Conditions in Iraq in Early 2004
A May 25, 2004 New York Times editorial addressed the, “nearly 14 months of policy failures, none of them acknowledged by the president…” Although President Bush, in a May 24, 2004 speech at the United States Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania outlined new steps designed to swiftly move Iraq toward the formation of a sovereign government, both Democrats in Congress and the media pointed to growing violence and American casualties in Iraq, long after the President declared “mission accomplished.”
Violence stemmed from an insurgency fighting clandestinely as well as suicide bombings. At the same time, disclosure of torture methods, which the President referred to as “abhorrent,” (The Economist, May 6, 2004), weakened U.S. credibility in Iraq and among other Muslim nations. In the U.S., Americans had spent March and April watching the 9/11 Commission, which produced its final report in July, 2004. The Department of Defense Detention Operations report, also known as the Taguba Report, was released in August, 2004.
American Support for the War in Iraq in 2004
Support for the war was waning in 2004. No weapons of mass destruction had been found and there was no plausible link between 9/11 and the regime of Saddam Hussein. President Bush was preparing the nation for further troop deployments to Iraq. In Congress, Democrats like Senator Joe Biden, currently the Vice President, stated, “I’m extremely disappointed…I don’t think he [Bush] leveled with the American people.” (Washington Post, May 25, 2004) Democrats hoped that the November election would become a referendum on the war.
Predicting the Future of Iraq in 2004 and the Realities of 2010
Writing in The New York Review of Books (May 13, 2004, Volume 51, Number 8), Peter Galbraith reminded readers that as of that date, more U.S. soldiers had been killed in Iraq than died during the actual war. $150 billion “had already been spent on Iraq…” Galbraith also suggested that, “The greatest danger comes from rogue states that acquire and disseminate nuclear weapons technology.” Galbraith further predicted that, “Civil war and the breakup of Iraq are more likely outcomes than a successful transition to a pluralistic Western-style democracy.”
Today, as U.S. combat troops prepare to depart Iraq by the summer of 2010, Iraq does not have a functional government and violence in the form of suicide bombs is again increasing. Galbraith’s “rogue” states have succeeded with nuclear technology: North Korea possesses such weapons and Iran is racing to produce them.
The Bush Plan of Democracy in Iraq
In their book Kingmakers: The Invention of the Modern Middle East (W.W. Norton & Company, 2008) Karl E. Meyer and Shareen Blair Brysac point out that, “The war’s architects had evidently conjured an unreal posthistorical vision of an Iraq gratefully embracing the triad deemed globally essential for national success: freedom, democracy, and free enterprise.” As visionary as the goal was, in the late spring of 2004 Iraq was a quagmire of chaos.
George Bush won reelection in November 2004 with 50.7% of the popular vote, defeating Senator John Kerry, a Vietnam veteran. Americans have never turned out a president seeking reelection during a war. Further, Bush’s changes in policies in May 2004 were viewed as a positive step toward ending the war and leaving Iraq with a stable and democratic government. That goal, however, has not yet been fully realized.
No comments:
Post a Comment