On May 1, 2003, President George W. Bush landed on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln and announced the end of major combat operations in Iraq. More memorable than the speech itself was the "Mission Accomplished" sign that stood behind the president. Last week, President Bush delivered a speech to midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy. The purpose of the speech was to map out a strategy for the war in Iraq. Displayed in front of and behind the president's podium was the phrase "Plan for Victory." In two and a half years, we have gone from "Mission Accomplished" to a "Plan for Victory." No matter how many signs are printed at taxpayer expense, this president can't escape the fact that war requires planning at the start, not planning in the middle.
The administration has created a smokescreen between the American people and the reality on the ground in Iraq. A poll released two weeks ago by CNN, USA Today and Gallup reveals that 63 percent of Americans polled disagree with President Bush's handling of the war. Rather than respond to this through drastic shifts in policy - dismissing Secretary Rumsfeld and the other architects of the invasion, for a start - Bush has hit the road on an Orwellian publicity tour. Now is the time for him to engage the American people on the realities of Iraq, instead of hiding facts about secret prisons, Halliburton no-bid contracts and shortcomings in the training of the Iraqi security forces. A new course is needed, and unless we acknowledge that the current policy has failed and our troops are under siege in a nation run amok, we will not be able to create a stable, just and free Iraq.
Additionally, we are losing ground in places outside the Middle East. The war in Iraq is diverting our diplomatic and financial resources from where they are needed. According to Department of Defense figures, for fiscal year 2005 the United States will be spending $195 million a day for operations in Iraq. One day in Iraq could open up 5,571 AIDS clinics in Africa. One day in Iraq could provide the United States with 1,101 border patrol agents. One day in Iraq could provide nearly four million households with emergency readiness kits. But for now, $195 million just buys us one more day in Iraq, and one more day of inept leadership from the Bush administration and the Republican Congress.
As a result the American global reputation has slowly dissolved. President Bush's recent trip to Latin America revealed just how much American influence in this hemisphere is being rolled back. Bush may have run on a platform of building stronger relationships with Latin America, but his disregard for the region has led to a waning of American influence. In the absence of strong U.S. leadership in the region, Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez has stepped in to become the voice of the poor and those disenchanted with Bush's foreign policy.
The combination of a costly war and ill-advised tax cuts - the first ever in a time of war - has created record deficits. And who is financing all this debt? The People's Republic of China, although you didn't hear the President mention it on his recent trip there. For fiscal year 2005, it is estimated that China will finance around $242 billion dollars of U.S. debt, more than triple the $71 billion it financed in 2000. The Bush administration has done nothing to lessen the debt. Until we reign in our free-spending Republican Congress and President Bush, who has never vetoed a spending bill, we will not be able to talk in frank terms with the Chinese government. As a result, there can be no progress on human rights or opening the Chinese economy to American businesses in the foreseeable future.
It is no wonder that President Bush needs a slogan and a studio set behind him every time he speaks about the war. No president should have to return to the campaign trail to justify military action. It is disappointing that the administration has reached the point where they are obliged to repeat the same slogans and platitudes rather than develop a real plan for victory. Now is the time for the Bush administration to stop manipulating and misleading, and level with the American people. If not, this will be one campaign the president is destined to lose.
Matthew Weinberg is a sophomore majoring in international relations and the head of the Tufts Democrats Foreign Policy Committee.
