Mission Not Accomplished

It is encouraging that the Defense and State departments, prodded by a Congress that has taken a belated interest in foreign affairs, have finally acknowledged that the United States needs help from other nations in bringing order to an Iraq that declines further into anarchy by the day. The question is, however, how can Washington persuade nations that it mocked and criticized for failing to join its Iraqi misadventure that they should now descend into this growing quagmire to save America's bacon?

Since May 1, when President Bush paraded around an aircraft carrier in his Top Gun costume declaring "mission accomplished" in Iraq, the country has been plagued by violence and looting, dozens more U.S. soldiers have come home in coffins and what little goodwill America had won has been dissipated. On Tuesday, American forces were accused of blowing up a mosque outside Baghdad, killing five Muslims. The Army claims the explosion came from within the mosque and it is probably right, but that is of no consequence in a country that will blame America for everything because of its failure to restore peace in the short term and its slowness in conjuring up a long-term plan for democracy.

"We need to involve the world, the globe" declared Republican Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee, the majority leader, on ABC's This Week Sunday. On FOX News Sunday, Senator Joseph Biden, a Delaware Democrat, asserted that "We need to see somewhere between 30,000 and 60,000 other troops... I want to see French, German, I want to see Turkish patches on people's arms..." Would that these two gentlemen had made similar declarations several months ago when Congress gave carte blanche to the President's war, but nonetheless they are right.

France and Germany, of course, were belittled for challenging America's rationale for war, a rationale since torn apart by reports of bogus intelligence claims and U.S. inability to locate weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Turkey, reluctant to foment a revolution at home, refused to allow U.S. warplanes to use its bases and was ostracized by the White House. It is difficult to imagine them rushing to America's assistance now. Retired U.S. Army General Wesley Clark, a former NATO commander, asserts the United Nations must step in because "there is no legitimacy for the American presence and they are not building one". The U.N. should be involved in Iraq, but its credibility was savaged by the Bush administration in the build-up to its war.

This is indeed a fine mess the White House's desk-bound military geniuses have gotten the United States into, and the American soldiers reduced to sitting ducks as Iraq crumbles are paying the price. Washington needs help from the allies it thought it didn't need and will have to ask for that help, even if it means eating a little well-deserved crow.