To end senseless war, U.S. needs new strategy

By Sen. EDWARD M. KENNEDY
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
Three years ago, we began the war in Iraq, and it's clearer than ever it's a war we never should have fought.
Our men and women in uniform have served admirably under enormously difficult circumstances. We salute each and every one of them. We mourn the more than 2,300 Americans who have been killed in action, and our hearts go out to the more than 17,000 who have been wounded.
Our troops are in Iraq to make possible the establishment of a legitimate functioning government. Their future and their fate depend on the success -- or failure -- of the political process.
Today's biggest challenge
The ominous challenge we face today is to prevent Iraq from sliding deeper into the quagmire. The time bomb of civil war is ticking, and our most urgent priority is to defuse it.
President Bush continues to see Iraq through the same rose-colored glasses he's always used. He assures the American people that we are winning, even though even his policies have been dangerously incompetent and Iraq's future and the lives of our troops hang so perilously on the precipice of a new disaster.
This is a time for bold and decisive action. It's encouraging that the president has agreed at last to talk with Iran about the future of Iraq, but other major steps are essential.
The president should immediately convene a summit of Iraqi groups and leaders to support the creation of a broad-based national unity government and encourage the leaders to give the highest priorities to the compromises essential to avoid civil war.
The Arab League should be encouraged as well to continue to facilitate dialogue between Iraqis.
Regional contact group
We also strongly support the United Nations' effort to establish a regional contact group of Iraq's neighbors. It's essential to find effective ways to increase trust between Iraq and its neighbors, and to minimize their intervention if conditions continue to deteriorate.
Once the constitutional process is reopened, changes must clearly be made to meet the very legitimate concerns of the Sunni minority. The Iraqi constitution must be a fair compact between all the Iraqi people. If it is not, our intervention is doomed to keep failing.
A fundamental aspect of this process should be to disarm the militias, which Ambassador Khalilizad has rightly described as "the infrastructure of civil war." No solution can work unless the Iraqi Security Forces are loyal to the government and not to a political party or faction.
We also need to work harder to meet the basic needs of the Iraqi people, who still lack adequate electricity, clean water and basic services. Three years into the war, it's scandalous that electricity and oil production are still below pre-war levels.
The patience of the American people is wearing thin. It will soon be three years since "Mission Accomplished," and it's hard to see progress. That clearly must change.
Edward M. Kennedy, a Democrat, is a U.S. senator from Massachusetts. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.