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Peter Brookes writes
a weekly column on foreign policy and defense
for the New York Post and is penning
a book on national security affairs for McGraw
Hill due out early next fall. He appears regularly
on national TV and radio.
Prior to joining the Heritage
Foundation, Brookes served in the Bush
administration as the Deputy Assistant Secretary
of Defense (DASD) for Asian and Pacific Affairs
in the Office of Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld, where he was responsible for the
development, planning, guidance and oversight
of U .S. security and defense policy for 38
countries and 5 bilateral defense alliances
in the Asia-Pacific region.
Brookes has a distinguished military background,
including active duty in support of military
operations in Iraq/Kuwait (Desert Storm);
Haiti (Restore Democracy); and Bosnia (Joint
Endeavor). He flew reconnaissance missions
in East Asia and the Persian Gulf while stationed
in Japan covering military matters related
to the Soviet Union, North Korea, China, Vietnam,
Iran and Iraq. His personal awards and decorations
include: the Joint Service Commendation Medal;
the Navy Commendation Medal (3 awards); the
Navy Achievement Medal; several naval and
joint unit awards; the Defense Language Institute’s
Kellogg Award; the Joint Chiefs of Staff service
badge; and Naval Aviation Observer (NAO) wings.
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May 11, 2004
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The long knives are out, not only for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld,
but for our Iraq policy as well.
President Bush's political opponents are trying to make electoral
hay over the Abu Ghraib prison nightmare. That's predictable. But
it's unfortunate, too, as the political broadsides tend to obscure
the fact that -- after a couple of tough weeks -- things are going
well militarily and politically in Iraq.
Worse, sowing politically motivated seeds of doubt about our wartime
leaders discourages our troops and encourages the enemy. Casting
gratuitous aspersions on the Pentagon or the U.S. military while
troops are fighting in the field is irresponsible. If we're not
careful here on the home front, we'll steal defeat in Iraq right
from the jaws of victory -- just as in Vietnam, where the war was
lost not militarily, but politically, here at home.
Time for a little stock-taking. First, let's look at the Abu Ghraib
scandal.
The abusive acts of a few Americans at the prison are inexcusable
and downright un-American. These acts do not reflect the values
of the U.S. military or the American people.
The Pentagon erred in not "breaking" the story of these horrors first-leaving
that task to network TV. A cardinal rule of crisis management is
to get good news out fast, but bad news out faster. Always come
clean as soon as possible -- especially with the Congress.
The incidents should be fully investigated, and those responsible duly punished.
The investigations must be transparent, broad and thorough. And
heads should roll--among those in charge who were aware of and sanctioned
the abuse, as well as those in the chain of command who should have
known about these activities.
Ultimate responsibility for the performance of the 2-million-person Department
of Defense lies with Secretary Rumsfeld. But he wasn't party to
the activities of a few bad seeds in Iraq. Absent revelations of
a cover-up, Rumsfeld should stay in place and soldier on as SECDEF.
(New allegations of CIA officer involvement in the abuses at Abu
Ghraib mean Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet has some
questions to answer...)
The prison should be razed. It is a symbol of the darkest side of man's soul.
(Saddam Hussein's regime tortured and executed tens of thousands
there.) Move the detainees; tear down the walls, and let the Iraqi
people move on. On the battlefield, meanwhile, the situation has
improved. The military's patient strategy of dealing with Fallujah,
Najaf, Karbala and rebel Shi'a cleric Moqtada al Sadr has paid off
to date.
We're fighting the insurgency on our terms. We've brought Iraqi
soldiers into the fight with the Fallujah Brigade and gathered allies
among 100 or so senior Shi'a clerics who publicly oppose Sadr's
radical policies and use of mosques as military bases. These are
all very positive developments.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military continues to soften up the enemy with
raids by ground troops and precision strikes from AC-130 Specter
gunships and F-16 Falcon fighters, to gather intelligence from agents,
satellites and drones, and to prepare the battlefield should an
all-out urban assault become necessary.
By avoiding bloody, house-to-house fighting in places like Fallujah
and Najaf, we have saved the lives of both innocent civilians and
American soldiers.
To win politically and militarily, the insurgents need to fight.
Inactivity is their enemy. By not going whole-hog into the cities
to fight them, Coalition soldiers have left the insurgents no option
but to abandon their defensive positions to engage us.
And every time the enemy comes out to do battle, they lose -- badly.
Scores of insurgents, terrorists and foreign fighters have been
killed in suicidal raids on American forces over the past few weeks.
Patience is a virtue in life and sometimes in war.
On the political front, the United Nations is fully engaged in setting
up the transitional government that will hold power until a full
government can be chosen in national elections early next year.
In a short 45 days, there will be an Iraqi face on a new Iraqi government,
and Iraq will be a step closer to full sovereignty.
Despite the lingering strife borne of Fallujah, Najaf and Abu Ghraib,
the situation in Iraq is overwhelmingly positive and improving.
With the exception of a few hotspots, the California-sized country
is pacified and moving in the right direction.
Clearly, though, our job there isn't done. Until it is, America's
elected officials and other second-guessers might consider spending
more time and effort pondering how to win the war and less time
and rhetoric trying to turn national setbacks to political advantage.
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© 2004 Peter Brookes. Mr. Brookes is
a Senior Fellow for National Security Affairs at The Heritage Foundation
in Washington, DC. This column originally appeared in the New
York Post. All opinions expressed in this article are the author's
and do not necessarily reflect those of Military.com.
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