Due to some websites/blogs misleading people about Congressman Harold Ford Jr's stance on Iraq, we are posting this op-ed he wrote on July 3rd in which he detailed his stance and plan for Iraq. Last week a reader from Germantown wrote to this newspaper asking me to set an example for the candidates in the U.S. Senate race by providing specific policy recommendations for the war in Iraq. The reader is right.
President Bush got it half-right in his address to the nation on Tuesday night: To succeed in Iraq, as we must and we will, requires the political and popular will to do so. But we cannot expect the American people to support a war they do not understand or commit to a plan they know little or nothing about.
This is where the President got it wrong: Although he reiterated our goals in Iraq -- to help the Iraqi people make their country secure and create a democratic government -- he did not articulate a plan of how to accomplish these goals.
I would have offered the following:
On the security side, we should change tactics. First, we need more troops, at least until the Iraqi forces are better able to stand on their own. The President said that he has not deployed more troops because his generals have not asked for them. I am not sure who the President is talking to, because every general and battalion commander that I met on my trips to Iraq have said they do not have the forces necessary to do their job.
For example, it makes no sense to sweep a town clean of insurgents and then leave it in the hands of untrained and under-equipped Iraqi forces. But because the U.S. military is undermanned, that is the strategy it has been forced to adopt. One soldier I spoke with called this the "Whack-a-Mole" strategy because after we hit the insurgency somewhere, they resurface in the same place.
Instead, we should work with Iraqis to select regions of the country that we are able to clean -- and keep clean -- with a meaningful military presence. We can then expand this stronghold gradually, all the while keeping it secure so political and social reforms can begin to take hold. If this strategy means delaying implementation of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission's recommendations or borrowing troops from our forces in the Far East or Europe, so be it. As Bush noted in his address, this is a war of the highest importance. Let's begin allocating our resources accordingly.
Second, we need to rethink the training of Iraqi forces. We should send the most talented and promising Iraqi trainees to military and police academies here in America so they can learn from the best instructors in the world. And once they are back in Iraq, we need to make sure they have the equipment needed to accomplish their mission. Without weapons and radios, even the best trained military and police force will be helpless against insurgents.
Likewise, we need to change the way we train American forces. We are sending American troops into Iraq with only a cursory understanding of the environment they are entering. If our troops had better cultural training, it would help them identify threats more quickly and ensure safer working conditions for them.
Moreover, we need to change the way we equip our soldiers. There is no excuse for shuttling the secretary of Defense around Iraq in a bomb-proof vehicle when our soldiers are forced to do their jobs in Humvees -- armored or not -- that are ill-designed and ill-equipped to handle roadside bombs. If a piece of equipment is not safe enough for Donald Rumsfeld, then it is not safe enough for any member of our armed forces. The procurement officers at the Pentagon should immediately adopt new procedures, and Congress will fund them.
Finally, we need to increase the number of translators for our troops. On both of my trips to Iraq, the scarcity of translators was a top complaint I heard from military leaders. It is time to pursue an aggressive domestic translator recruiting program to fill the gap. Thousands of Arab-Americans are ready, willing and able to support the war, such as the Iraqi-Americans at Fort Campbell who are helping train the 101st Airborne. Even if we need to pay qualified translators $250,000 per year, it is worth it if it helps spare the lives of American soldiers from roadside bomb explosions.
On the political side, I am pleased that progress is being made, such as drafting a new constitution. But a successful government involves more than just pieces of paper. It also requires a working infrastructure. Too many Iraqis remain without clean water, reliable electricity and working sewage systems. This delay is unacceptable not only because it breaks a promise we made to the Iraqi people at the outset of this war, but also because it fosters disillusionment among Iraqis, which emboldens the insurgency.
We need to galvanize the global community to help in this effort. Recently, our allies have been exuberant in their rhetoric but timid in their actions. It is time to change this. We need to put the world's expertise to work to ensure that all Iraqi people have access to basic social services. A global fund, for the sole purpose of rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure, should be created and administered by top U.S., European and UN commanders, subject to strict oversight requirements that ensure transparency and prevent fraud and abuse.
If history is any guide, we still have a long way to go. As a nation we are capable of incredible things when we focus. Just over two years into World War II, in early 1944, we had built a new naval fleet, constructed a new fleet of bombers, invaded Italy and Africa and begun preparations for the landing at Normandy.
I am concerned that at the same stage of this war, we cannot point to similarly significant accomplishments. True, we have made strides, but there is still much to be done. It is time to embrace new ideas and approaches to make sure that success is achieved and that our soldiers can begin coming home.
This is what I would do.
From: Ford For Tennessee
To read a letter Harold Ford Jr. recently wrote President Bush regarding Iraq, click here!
To view Harold Ford Jr's strong record of supporting our troops, click here!
