Iraq War Intensifies as US Warplanes Strike Rebel Targets - Operation Swarmer May Shift Support Away From US Occupation   

March 16th 2006

The Americans launched a large scale assault on a new Iraqi insurgent stronghold today.  Reports indicate it is the largest air assault since the initial invasion in 2003.  The raids will likely continue for several days. 

This begs the question: Will this allow the US to Win?  I think the first thing we need to do is define what “win” means.  Does it mean that there are no more attacks or does it mean the Iraqis are able to take care of themselves?  Who determines when the Iraqis are able to take car of them selves and by what criteria do we use to judge this.

Since the beginning of the war, pro-war pundits said the President should not set a date for withdraw from Iraq.  There should not be “timetable”, many argued.  Now that the President’s poll numbers have dropped into the mid 30% range, he hints at a timetable for troop withdrawal.

The other night the US’s top military officer said we are at a critical juncture.  Our actions could yield prosperity or could devolve into civil war.  General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, characterized Iraq as "a place that is having some real difficulties right now."  Just one week earlier Pace said that the war was “going very, very well.”  

No one in the administration wants to admit that Iraq has fallen into a civil war.  Sure, the combatants are not attacking each other using conventional methods.  They are not using tanks and warplanes, but the country appears to be in a civil war.

Many skeptics of the war predicted a civil war in Iraq, even before we invaded and began our occupation.  We can not expect these factions to unite like the US did after our revolution.  The question is: why didn’t the Administration see this?  Comment on this article at our Forum

By Tom Madison
Freelance Writer

Keywords and misspellings:  politics poletics democrat demoncrat republican repub comentary commentary