The War Is Over; What’s Missing Is the Battle Plan

The end of the war in Iraq is far from a triumphant moment. The outcome of the engagement is too frustrating and America’s current situation is unsatisfactory.

It was certainly a historic moment, but it wasn’t a historic speech. President Obama announced the official end of the war in Iraq, at least as far as the United States is concerned, saying, “… the American combat mission in Iraq has ended.” But the bloodshed won’t end that quickly.

In his live address to the nation and the world, Obama wanted to deliver a potpourri of messages. What he needed to say, however, remained unsaid.

First and foremost, Obama should have emphasized that he had kept the promise he made during his campaign; namely, that he was withdrawing a majority of U.S. troops from Iraq. That he was disentangling the United States from the mess he inherited from his predecessor. That he was getting the country out of this war of attrition. Obama had every right in the world to emphasize these things.

In addition, he needed to signal the fact that America’s engagement in Iraq hadn’t ended — he left 50,000 soldiers there, after all — and that billions of dollars would be invested in the civilian reconstruction of the nation. And he needed to make clear that it was now incumbent upon the United States to find a responsible way to disentangle itself from other conflicts that had been largely ignored during the Iraq adventure. U.S. troops will remain in Afghanistan, but not indefinitely. Obama stated, “… open-ended war serves neither our interests nor the Afghan people’s.” But all that is certainly nothing new.

Obama also had other concerns. He wanted to thank the troops — something that was more than just an obligatory patriotic gesture to him. According to everything we hear, the president is deeply touched by the sacrifices suffered by the troops and their families.

And he needed to make it clear that he understands what concerns Americans most: high unemployment figures and the fear of sliding back into recession. He rightly pointed out that both of America’s wars have cost the nation no less than a trillion dollars over the last 10 years. That’s an unimaginably huge amount of money that could have been better spent in the United States. It is money that has contributed in large measure to the record deficit. “Our most urgent task is to restore our economy, and put the millions of Americans who have lost their jobs back to work,” Obama said. But he didn’t say how he intended to do that.

A new round of stimulus spending under his leadership appears impossible to get through Congress, even if it’s absolutely necessary to shock U.S. business out of its collective fear-induced paralysis. But two months before the midterm elections, that’s another impossibility; he was unable to even get a $30 billion small business loan package through.

To accomplish all that, Obama would have to hold the Republicans responsible, something he again would have every right to do. But he didn’t do it. He didn’t give the first indication as to his plans to shield America from growing stagnation. There is clearly far too little to call this a historic moment — the moment America ended the war but threatens to slip into a new crisis.