Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2003 | 9:06 a.m.
SO WHAT IS GOING ON IN IRAQ? The answer you give may well be determined by what you read in the newspapers or see on television.
The White House staff and cabinet members want you to believe that great progress is being made with schools opening and business flourishing. In some areas of Iraq this picture is accurately portraying what's happening on the ground.
Obviously everything in Iraq isn't all sunlight and roses. More American military people have been killed by enemy guerrilla action since the end of major hostilities was declared by President Bush on May 1, than were killed prior to that announcement. Additional strikes resulting from the acts of terrorists have killed civilian Red Cross and U.N. workers along with scores of innocent Iraqi citizens. These killings deserve the coverage given them by the media. What we should question is why some newspapers no longer put this information on their front pages and why we no longer see pictures of the flag draped coffins returning to the U.S. every day.
After several weeks of criticizing the media for reporting too much violence and not enough of the great progress being made, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld admitted we have problems and a long road of pain ahead. Still, the official line put much of the blame on groups of foreign terrorists and some remaining followers of Saddam Hussein. Nobody should be surprised about the large numbers of terrorists, who came from Syria and Iran last spring, still hanging around to fulfill their stated mission to "kill Americans."
Maj. Gen. Raymond Odierno told the press that only "a very, very small percentage" of the guerrillas and terrorists are foreigners. "What I found is Iraqis do not like people from other countries fooling in Iraqi business," Odierno said. "They don't like Iranians here, they don't like Syrians, they really like their own people being involved in this."
We don't know for sure exactly who are the dominant members of the killing squads. Past experiences tell us that both terrorists and guerrillas can only operate effectively over a long period of time if local residents are helping them. Without local help and sympathy the guerrillas and terrorists soon become targets themselves. The cheering villagers where our helicopter was shot down Sunday wasn't an encouraging sign. Nor was the looting of the train derailed by a bomb last week.
Cooperation from local residents is sometimes brought about by philosophical sympathy and other times by fear of the killers. Generally, as among the Palestinians in Israel, both factors come into play. Unless the coalition forces in Iraq can guarantee the safety of residents willing to cooperate with them, the fear factor will dominate the situation.
Last week reporter Dave Moniz, writing in USA Today, put it as follows: "In the nearly six months since President Bush declared major combat over in Iraq, guerrilla forces have grown bolder, more sophisticated and more deadly.
"Iraqi insurgents have repeatedly adapted their tactics as they figure out where U.S. forces are vulnerable, and for the moment appear to have gained the upper hand, some military analysts say. In recent weeks, they have widened their target list to anyone who cooperates with the United States, including Red Cross Workers. On Sunday, they were brazen enough and apparently well enough informed to attack a hotel where Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz was staying.
"The next few months, experts say, could be pivotal. Either U.S. forces will improve their anti-guerrilla tactics enough to regain the initiative, or the insurgents could score enough victories to turn Iraqis decisively against the occupation and weaken the American public's support for the war."
Americans and their president aren't in a cut-and-run mood. They have finally come to know that the war hasn't ended, and also realize that leaving the mess behind will undercut the prestige of the world's super power. In the meantime, we still have reconstruction and military jobs to complete in Afghanistan.
In recent weeks the greatest progress we have made is admitting we have a long way to go before saying, "mission accomplished."
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