The Fayetteville Observer March 29, 2007
War opinions have a far reach
By Kevin Maurer
Days after the Democrats won both houses of Congress in November, Iraqis in Bayji were asking 82nd Airborne Division paratroopers when the Americans were leaving.
The soldiers were stunned that the Iraqis were so focused on the election. They had to explain that President Bush was still commander in chief.
On Tuesday, Senate Democrats defeated a Republican amendment that would have stripped a timetable to withdrawal troops from Iraq by 2008 out of a war spending bill.
The Iraqi insurgents have been quick to circulate the anti-war opinions of American celebrities, politicians and pundits. The vote Tuesday could cast American resolve in doubt in Iraq.
Republican U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina, who voted to strip the language, said she was disappointed it remained. The bill provides money for troops in combat and shouldn’t be used “as a vehicle for pork,” she said.
“Rather than supporting our commanders and troops, it endangers them and makes our mission more difficult to achieve,” Dole said in a statement. “Congress has no business micromanaging a war, and I strongly oppose setting a date-certain for withdrawing our troops. Doing so would not only send a terrible message to the brave young men and women who risk their lives every day to defend our freedom, but would also send a dangerous message to our enemies.”
Fighting the war of words has became as important to U.S. commanders as capturing insurgents.
The insurgents and Iraqi citizens are tuned into America’s internal debate over the war.
Arab-language copies of Michael Moore’s film ‘‘Fahrenheit 9/11” were available on the streets of Baghdad soon after its release.
Even peace protests in Fayetteville have gained an international audience.
“Peace activities in Fayetteville have been covered all over the world,” said Chuck Fager, the director of the Quaker House.
Fager helped organize the fourth annual Peace March & Rally in Fayetteville earlier this month.
Stories about Quaker House have appeared on television and newspapers in France, Japan and on Al-Jazeera, the Arabic-language news network
It is unclear whether the protests are reaching Iraqis or what kind of effect they are having.
“I hope that it is helping to shorten the war,” Fager said.
Time is running out in Iraq, retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey said.
“This president will have the remainder of his months in office beleaguered by his political opponents to the war,” wrote McCaffrey, an adjunct professor of international affairs at the U.S. Military Academy.
McCaffrey’s observations were released Wednesday in an eight-page memo to colleagues. His opinions were based on a trip earlier this month to Iraq and Kuwait.
“However, our next president will only have 12 months or less to get Iraq straight before he/she is forced to pull the plug,” McCaffrey wrote.
He thinks political pressure from the Democrats may help because it will force the Iraqis to act.
McCaffrey thinks the insurgency, even after American forces leave, will continue for a decade.
“The Democratic control of Congress and its vocal opposition can actually provide a helpful framework within which our brilliant new Ambassador Ryan Crocker can maneuver the Maliki administration to understand their diminishing options,” McCaffrey wrote.
John Pike, director of Globalsecurity.org, a Washington defense policy think tank, said the significance of the vote is overstated because Bush won’t accept a timetable for withdrawal.
But, he said, some will see the vote as a sign that Americans don’t have the stomach for a long war.
“If you hit them hard in the gut, they will eventually go home,” Pike said. “That is what the Japanese thought in December 1941. This is not the first time other people around the world have had this view of Americans.”
Victory in Iraq may come down to a willingness to stay and fight.
“We, as soldiers, are prepared to fight this war,” a soldier in Iraq wrote in a January letter to the Observer. “I hope politicians are prepared to let us fight it to its end.”
© Copyright 2007, The Fayetteville Observer
