March 20, 2008 at 10:24:57

Five years in Iraq: only to remain

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By Tom Driscoll (about the author) Page 2 of 2 page(s)

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Early this year the Center for American Progress released a study of Iraq's performance on these benchmarks. There was really no surprise in it. Just as General Patreus said last Summer as he testified before Congress -and just as the Government Accountability Office reported last Fall, the CAP report observed that while some of the military and security objectives have seen progress -statistical declines in violence for example, virtually none of the social and political objectives set out for Iraqi leadership have seen any progress at all. A draft of some legislation on oil revenue sharing has moved somewhat forward through their legislature.

So, here we are, about to embark on the sixth year of our "difficult, challenging, but nonetheless successful endeavor," as Vice President Cheney describes it. Here we are trying to understand what that endeavor is exactly. We have been given a number of different working definitions these past five years: remove a threat, depose a dictator, safeguard a democracy, allow it space... then progress. As Vice President Cheney flies home, and our troops do not, and the previously stated benchmarks of progress seem all but forgotten, as another day's statistically acceptable amount of blood is washed from the street, it seems the "surge" -first introduced as a means to an end-has become the end in itself. Our purpose in Iraq has become -only to remain.

One of the stops on Vice President Cheney's anniversary tour of Baghdad was a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki and U.S. General David Patreus. No doubt one of the things they discussed was progress on the negotiations for a "status of forces agreement" allowing for the continued presence of U.S. troops in Iraq for years to come. Both sides have stated their ambition to conclude this agreement this Summer-it's important that they do, before elections in the Fall: October in Iraq, November here at home.

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