My Turn: Violence continues to escalate in Iraq
Last week, I predicted violence in Iraq is likely to escalate as elections there draw nearer. Just two days later, an insurgent attack on Forward Operating Base Marez in Mosul killed at least 22 people and wounded at least 60 others. Among those killed were at least 20 Americans — 15 soldiers and 5 civilian contractors.
The target of the insurgent attack was a “dining facility,” actually a big tent, teeming with U.S. soldiers. They had just gathered for their noon meal when the blast shattered the tent, and many of them, with deadly results. U.S. officials are calling this one of the most devastating attacks on Americans since the war began.
As of this writing, the details of this massacre in Mosul are still being sorted out. However, the death toll is likely to rise as those most grievously wounded succumb to their injuries. Just as likely, many of these casualties from Mosul will be borne by National Guard soldiers.
From Maine to Virginia, families and friends will grieve for those who have fallen. Here in Tennessee, we feel their grief more acutely, as our own National Guard soldiers go in harm’s way.
President Bush has vowed the violence in Iraq will not derail the elections there, still scheduled for Jan. 30, 2005. Let us hope, perhaps even pray, that he is right. Delaying the Iraqi elections will delay the process of moving toward some semblance of order in Iraq. In turn, this will delay the departure of U.S. forces from Iraq, leave them vulnerable to more danger, and put even more stress on our already thinly stretched military.
The cumulative effect of frequent, repetitive rotations to and from Iraq is already showing up in declining recruiting results, especially in our Guard and Reserve units. The next shoe to fall may well be the failure to retain quality veteran soldiers in sufficient numbers to sustain our military commitments in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere.
The Army has long said we recruit soldiers, but we retain soldiers and their families. That may be easier said than done if we continue to commit our military, active and reserve, to further service and sacrifice, while the rest of us live our lives in splendid isolation from either.
The implications of the war in Iraq, though serious for the military, are even more momentous for U.S. foreign policy. President Bush has made success in Iraq a keystone in the overall “global war on terrorism.” Clearly, he believes the benefits of success in Iraq justify the risks involved in achieving such success. Again, let us hope and pray he is right, and that his will to succeed is matched by the American people’s will to stay the course.
Finally, lest we forget a now-long-ago war with eerie echoes for today, there was a holiday tree ceremony at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. last Wednesday. In what amounted to a poignant pact across the generations, veterans of Iraq, their families and friends paid tribute to those whose names are etched in the wall and offered praise to those who continue to serve and sacrifice, along with prayers for their safe return. Despite our differences, political and otherwise, should we do any less?
(Thomas Vaughan is a Warren County columnist.)