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Friday March 21, 2008

The Iraq war, five years on

This week, America and the world marked the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war.

By almost every measure, this war has taken a heavy toll. Nearly 4,000 American lives lost, and 40,000 wounded. Countless thousands of Iraqis dead, and millions displaced. Hundreds of billions of dollars in U.S. treasure down the spiderhole. American prestige diminished around the world.

And no end in sight.

This is not a partisan issue. While presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain affirms that the surge is working, he has also said repeatedly the war has been horribly mismanaged from the start.

Gen. David Petraeus, commander of coalition forces in Iraq, said this week that while the surge has resulted in clear military gains, “progress in Iraq is fragile, it is tenuous … there is no one who is doing any kind of celebration here.”

Moreover, the war opened the door to increased Iranian influence in the region. Shia Iran is Israel’s most formidable enemy, and with Shiite ascendancy in Iraq now a fait accompli, that enemy has grown vastly more dangerous.

Since the launch of the war, Iranian-backed Hamas has taken over Gaza and launched a relentless war on Israel’s Negev. Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based Iranian-backed terrorist entity, triggered the costly 2006 summer war against Israel’s north. Both terror groups continue to shore up their armories.

Can anyone logically claim Israel is safer since the start of the war?

While we applaud the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, who was without question an intolerable threat to Israel (not to mention the Iraqi people), we cannot see how a Shia-dominated Iraq would be any less of a threat.

That is, unless American forces remain in the country indefinitely. But with a majority of Americans wanting out of Iraq as soon as possible, we can expect acute political tensions for years to come.

Some –– especially on the left –– spend too much time pointing fingers and spewing endless criticism, as if that will solve anything. What’s done is done. Merely excoriating the war’s architects does nothing to fix the problem.

So what is to be done? No matter who wins, this year’s election will provide new leadership and, we hope, new direction. A fresh perspective may spur progress on all fronts and perhaps lead to a speedier end to the war.

Eventually, all wars do end. May this one end with Iraq healed, American honor restored and Israel strong and prosperous.

On a more haimish note, we wish our readers a happy and hilarious Purim.

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