HOW HE SEES IT The uninformed skeptics of war

By MARTIN SCHRAM
SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE
While people everywhere are transfixed by shocking images of naked prisoners and sadomasochistic abuse that seem to symbolize the degeneration of U.S. efforts in Iraq, we are focusing today on mere words -- words that paint a far grimmer picture.
We begin with a quick quiz. Match the following quotations about the war in Iraq with the people who uttered them.
The Quotes:
Asked if the United States is losing the war in Iraq, this person replied, "I think strategically, we are."
After citing the disastrous defeat in the war in Vietnam, this person said, "I promised myself ... that I would do everything in my power to prevent that from happening again. Here I am, 30 years later, thinking we will win every fight and lose the war, because we don't understand the war we're in."
"It is doubtful we can go on much longer like this. The American people may not stand for it -- and they should not. ... I do not believe we had a clearly defined war strategy, end state and exit strategy before we commenced our invasion."
"The idea that Iraq can be miraculously and quickly turned into a shining example of democracy that will 'transform' the Middle East requires way too much fairy dust and cultural arrogance to believe."
The Speakers:
(A) John Kerry, (B) Ralph Nader, (C) Howard Dean, (D) Wesley Clark, (E) None of the Above.
The correct answers:
1 (E), 2 (E), 3 (E), 4 (E).
That's because all four quotations were uttered, not by liberal Democrats who oppose President Bush's war policy in Iraq, but by top U.S. military officers who have been very much a part of the war in Iraq.
The quotes were contained in a remarkable May 9 article by The Washington Post's military affairs correspondent, Thomas Ricks, headlined: "Dissension Grows In Senior Ranks On War Strategy: U.S. May Be Winning Battles in Iraq But Losing the War, Some Officers Say." What made the piece remarkable was that a number of the top officers were willing to be quoted by name, even though the war is still being waged.
Who said what
Quote No. 1 was spoken by Army Maj. Gen. Charles Swannack Jr., the commander of the 82nd Airborne Division. He spent much of the year in western Iraq. Swannack believes the United States is winning the battles at the tactical level, but was one of the top military officers who said that the United States was not winning the overall strategic goal, which is establishing a free and democratic Iraq.
Quote No. 2 was spoken by Army Col. Paul Hughes. Last year he served as director of strategic planning for the U.S. occupation authority in Baghdad.
Quote No. 3 was attributed to "a senior general at the Pentagon [who] said he believes the United States is already on the road to defeat." This general blamed Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz for what has gone wrong in Iraq.
(Ricks wrote that a number of generals spoke only on the condition that their names not be used, because they deal daily with top civilian Pentagon officials they are criticizing. Some said they feared they would receive vindictive treatment similar to that experienced by Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki after he warned -- quite accurately, as we now know -- last year that many more troops would be needed to securely occupy Iraq after Saddam Hussein was toppled from power.)
Quote No. 4 was attributed to "a senior military intelligence officer experienced in Middle Eastern affairs."
It turned out that there was one other remarkable thing about that Post article: Even though it was the Post's lead story, it seems to have had very little impact on those who consider themselves Washington's smart set. The shockingly candid words of those top military officers apparently have been drowned out by the shock and horror of those photos from the Abu Ghraib prison that laid bare one of the saddest and sickest chapters of American military history.
But the blunt words of those senior U.S. military officers constitute a damning indictment of their ideologically bent civilian chiefs in the Pentagon -- and their recklessly predisposed commander in chief.
XMartin Schram writes political analysis for Scripps Howard News Service.