IRAQI RESOLVE

The events of the war against Iraq are apparently not going as planned. This assertion is denied by high-ranking officials in the administration, but as the battle continues, so do reports of behind-the-scenes skepticism by military figures and others in the administration. The President’s own advisors are saying he was ill-advised.

It was only a few weeks ago when former U.N. ambassador Ken Adelman wrote, “I believe demolishing Hussein’s military power and liberating Iraq would be a cakewalk. Let me give simple, reasonable reasons: (1) It was a cakewalk last time; (2) they’ve become much weaker; (3) we’ve become much stronger; and (4) now we’re playing for keeps.”

As recently as March 23, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said, “The course of this war is clear. The outcome is clear. The regime of Saddam Hussein is gone. It’s over.”

Certainly the Secretary is correct about the eventual outcome. Although the allied forces are suffering losses of life and equipment beyond expectations, the superiority of the U.S. military will prevail.

Perhaps the greatest miscalculation of the conflict is the resolve of the Iraqi people. A telling interview was broadcast last week. An elderly woman in Baghdad bravely spoke of her hatred for Saddam’s stranglehold on the country, and at the same time she pledged to stand in opposition to “the American invaders.”

This isn’t how it was supposed to work. We’re now fighting Iraqi patriots who have no use for Saddam, but no use for the United States, either. As the war moves on, hatred for the United States brews in other countries, and now non-Iraqi fighters are joining in the cause. The pool of possible bad outcomes continues to grow.

America and England are sure to prevail in this war, but the terror is only beginning. In Iraq, in Afghanistan and in other countries, our troops will now face a greater danger than ever.

To think otherwise is yet one more serious miscalculation by the leadership in Washington.