As The World Turns

07/23/2007

Paul Munnis


Don’t look now but the Iraqi war is winding down and the dialog in Washington is shifting. Generals are looking ahead to a reduced combat role for our soldiers. The question has turned to a matter of timetables. It’s not a matter of: “If we leave Iraq,” but rather “when we leave Iraq.”

People when they look around have to admit that a surge effort is not going to be the decider of Iraq’s future. General Petraeus and Mr. Bush can soft peddle surge effects but we already know the outcome. They can argue about September vs November reports but we Americans made up our minds back during July.

Few Americans looking ahead five years would see us in the same position in Iraq that we are in right now. Most Americans would see American troops out of Iraq by then. The question of a precise timetable is becoming not so important as the issue of how we withdraw from Iraq in order to minimize the loss of life.

As a result we can say that the American people have made their voices heard in Washington and all now know that we must leave Iraq. It’s become a matter of unfinished business. Say what you will -- Democrats have established a climate change in Washington getting the body politic to understand the demands of the people. They have stamped GOP ownership on this war in indelible ink too.

For Bush and his people the big push is to grab the Iraqi oil before leaving. I would say that is the GOP’s number one priority because it justifies the invasion and creates a political future for the GOP. If they fail on that point it would be a huge disaster for the Republican Party and thus would deliver a huge party blow to them for decades to come.

For Democrats it’s about getting the war ended before it’s handed over to us. We don’t want to inherit Bush’s dirty laundry. Democrats have established that the war was started by Bush and mismanaged by Bush and that every combat casualty in Iraq belongs to the GOP.

Democrats want to minimize the mess created by the GOP and the GOP should want to do the same.

It is unlikely that the effects of the Iraq War can be avoided by Democrats and when we win in November 2008 it is inevitable that a lot of mud will splash onto our boots as we try to clean up the effects of this war. Also is the less discussed war in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Obvious areas of impact will be diplomatic and economic. Not so obvious will be the need for a government to deal with the real victims of war -- people. We speak of soldiers and their families in the U.S. and displaced people living in a wrecked economy in Iraq. The tendency of a government in a post war period is to shove the people who are impacted to the back burner of public consciousness but that can’t be done with the Iraq War nor the Afghanistan War either.

Democrats will thus have a major role in helping two countries recover from the Bush debacle.

Depending upon the oil outcome Democrats will either have to speed-up alternative energy development or else we will have to assure a secure oil supply from abroad. It is these issues of securing foreign oil that are the most problematic.

There is the matter of securing the means of production and that means security for oil wells and pipelines. Then there is the lack of oil refinery capacity in the U.S. Then there is the penchant for price gouging shown by oil companies and their investors. All that must be managed even as we rebuild our military from stem to stern and deal with the trade imbalance caused by oil imports.

When we deal with the alternative energy scenario then issue management becomes much different depending upon whether or not we have a secure flow of Iraqi oil for our military forces and for the heating and cooling of our buildings and dwellings, and for solving our national transportation challenges.

Democrats will have to deal with all of this even as millions of baby-boomers retire putting a terrible strain on our nation’s health system. Also, redistribution of income will happen even as a worker shortage develops. That in turn will make the whole subject of immigration policy and citizenship a more poignant and urgent matter for our nation.

So we can say that a bumpy road lies ahead and that leaving Iraq starts a new journey full of change, excitement, and adventure for America.

We hope the GOP will knock off the partisanship because the best brains in America are needed for our nation to deal with the issues just ahead. The private sector and the public sector will have to join hands to make needed adjustments. We do not need our national goals complicated by ego-maniacs taking retribution because their Lobby effort failed back during 2007 or whatever.

Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are moving on and are using the remainder of the legislative season to get accomplished what can be accomplished and to try to salvage the session from “Iraq-a-mania.” We have a nation to run and it should not be a part time job done between squabbles.

As the issues become resolved and withdrawal happens, Democrats need to assure that we are not making things more difficult for ourselves in the period that follows the Bush years of government.

Two years ago we were saying that come 2008 we Democrats would have to set an agenda for America that was tantamount to putting a man on the moon. Now the agenda is getting set and is coming into focus and we see a daunting task that lies just ahead.