Even those of us who support the war must now admit that Iraq is in a 'œdownward slide,' said William Kristol and Rich Lowry in The Washington Post. At this critical juncture, we have no reasonable alternative but to send more American troops. President Bush rightly insists that we continue to train Iraq's armed forces to fight the insurgency and the mounting sectarian violence. But despite our best efforts, the Iraqis 'œaren't yet up to it.' That leaves the job of restoring order to the U.S. By all accounts, areas that are 'œintensively patrolled by Americans' are less dangerous than those that aren't. Yet U.S. commanders simply don't have enough troops to control vast swaths of the country. The longer we resist increasing our presence, especially in embattled Baghdad, the more emboldened the Shiite militias will become, and the prospect of victory will diminish.
Sending more troops looks good on paper, said Daniel Benjamin and Michèle Flournoy in Slate.com. But it won't work, for one simple reason. 'œThere are no more troops to send to Iraq.' With 140,000 troops already there, both the Army and Marines are stretched thin. Many soldiers in Iraq are already on their third tour of duty, and we're sending them back almost as soon as they get home. In fact, three years of grueling fighting have degraded the existing force's ability to wage war. Equipment and vehicles are breaking down faster than they can be fixed. Two-thirds of Army units, both active and reserve, report themselves 'œunready' to perform their missions. In terms of combat readiness, we're in 'œworse shape than at any time since the aftermath of Vietnam.' We're disorganized, too, said military expert Andrew Krepinevich in the New York Daily News. In a divided administration, no one person is in charge of our military and political strategy in Iraq. That leaves us scrambling to react to events, rather than shaping them.
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