I must be a slow learner.  In fact it’s pretty obvious, given my surprise at seeing our government push us over the brink into unlimited war once again.  But the reality of Iraq has forced me – and quicker learners than me – to wake up once again to the nightmare still enfolding in Iraq. 

Emerging from the fog of war are the outlines of the fantasy world which our president and other leaders continue to inhabit whenever they think about Iraq.  I had thought that what the President called a “surge” was accompanied by an increase in wisdom – that as violence reduced around Iraq, the Bush administration had started to understand the futility of inserting American forces in ways that would only increase sectarian conflict in the country.

But then today, we started bombing again.

To understand why it’s becoming harder to penetrate the thinking of our government leaders, let’s look at some dates.  On February 22, U.S. officials call Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr as a model of restraint – with U.S. military and diplomatic leaders even referring to him by honorific Arabic titles.  On March 17, the Vice President, in Baghdad, calls the Iraq war “a difficult, challenging, but nonetheless successful endeavor.”  On March 19 the President, referring to five years of war in Iraq, says "[b]ecause we acted, the world is better and United States of America is safer."  On March 27, Mr. Bush says that after American soldiers were seen handing out books to Iraqi children or overseeing town meetings in Iraq, “there could be no doubt that America is a force for good and decency.” That same day, referring to the Maliki government’s efforts to reign in al-Sadr’s militia, Mr. Bush stresses that this will be “an Iraqi operation” with U.S. “support when asked.”  Then, on March 28 we hear that America is again bombing Basra and Baghdad.  Right back in the middle of someone else’s fight.  And just about guaranteed to do more harm than good to our own cause — and Iraq’s. 

I’ve been resisting the temptation to make easy comparisons with Vietnam, but our leaders’ disconnection with reality is becoming almost as total as it was at the height of that war.  And it looks like the unreality has spread through enough of the military establishment to ensure that that this war will actually go on and on and on. 

The momentary success of the “surge” may have once again lulled Americans to sleep.  But mistakes by the Bush administration, and misunderstanding of what can be done to end this conflict, only continue.  The U.S. military effort in Vietnam began to unravel only when the public received conclusive and irrevocable evidence of how utterly deluded our political and military leaders were about the chances of success.   In 2008, this delusion can be tracked in real time, but communicating the whole picture – with bright enough colors to make a final impression on the nation’s retina – will be difficult unless truth-tellers come out of the administration and the military establishment.

Given the morass we are stuck in, we may be left with only one real hope.  Maybe there’s a soldier out there brave enough to bring the world a new version of the Pentagon Papers.

Ned Hodgman

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