http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63006-2004Apr8.html Follow the Exit Signs
By Robert Byrd
Friday, April 9, 2004; Page A19
Pictures from Iraq have been the stuff of nightmares. Daily we get new reminders of the cost of U.S. occupation of that country. More than 600 American troops have been killed there, and thousands more hurt.
There is no safety in Iraq. The United States has invested $121 billion so far in the war and reconstruction of Iraq, but chaos reigns in the streets. Just 2,324 of the more than 78,000 Iraqi police on the beat are "fully qualified." Nearly 60,000 of those same police officers have had no formal training. The new Iraqi army has trained only 8 percent of the troops the administration has promised to field by this August. Continued reliance on U.S. troops and contractors means continuing violence and more hatred of the occupiers.
Given the violence, a peaceful June 30 handoff of power from U.S. forces to the Iraqi people seems increasingly unlikely. In fact, that transfer remains one of the largest unanswered questions in this continued occupation: When do we return power to the Iraqi people -- and to whom will we return it?
Whatever the answer, the White House has stunted progress in Iraq. America deposed a tyrant who relied on intimidation and control, who listened only to those who agreed with him. Today America is increasingly seen by the Iraqi people in the same light, relying on intimidation and control from our military and dismissing those who see events from a different perspective. Closing newspapers, even repugnant and violent ones, seems to put the lie to our claims of loving freedom. Perhaps Iraq is not yet ready for self-rule, but its people are certainly not learning the joys of democracy from the American occupation.
The United States should get out of the business of running Iraq.
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