A Fine Mess

I am a well-known insomniac, but I am willing to bet money that once I do fall asleep, I'll sleep better than Bob Gates is sleeping.

He serves a feckless and incurious president whose meme of the moment is to call for a surge of troops, "one last push." Meanwhile, the Joint Chiefs of Staff are saying slow down, a surge probably would not be prudent. Then there was Colin Powell on Face the Nation saying that the war isn't lost yet, but it is in the process of being lost, less than 24 hours before Mr. Gates was sworn in.

He faces a disgruntled officer corps and a military that is openly protesting the Iraqi involvement throughout the ranks.

Just look at the mess he has to clean up. The New York Times reports that attacks on American troops in Iraq are at an all-time high, up to 1000 per week by the most recent reports, up from 800 attacks per week a few weeks ago. (Jaw-dropping graphs here).

The violence is spiraling all through the country. Iraqi's are dying horrific violent deaths at a rate of around fifty per day. The militias are out of control, and the police ranks are infested with men who are cops by day and militia commanders by night. First militias ran amok in Amara in October. Then a little over a month later, came the kidnapping in the Education Ministry. Last week, another bold mass kidnapping was conducted in broad daylight when over two dozen Red Crescent workers were taken at gunpoint.

In his first public statements about the war he is now charged with managing and hopefully ending, he said that failure would be a "calamity" that would haunt America for decades. Standard boilerplate, of course. But he also announced immediate plans to visit the commanders on the ground in Iraq.

I have news for Mr. Gates. Iraq is a calamity and it will haunt us for years. It has soured our relations with 1.6 billion of the worlds people first by invading then by conducting our operations in ways that violate international law and the Geneva Conventions against mass punishment of civilian populations.

There are so many problems - urgent problems - that demand attention the risk is in getting spread too thin and accomplishing nothing. The big picture must be carefully scrutinized, and tasks must be prioritized. The decisions he makes now will be significant for the United States armed forces for years to come. I can not stress how critical this juncture is.

As someone said in comments recently - I'm not religious, but I am tempted to petition dieties that Mr. Gates might make wise choices.