Editorial: Get on with the real war

Sunday, Sept. 10, 2006 | 7:38 a.m.

Five years ago today Iraq and Afghanistan were only moderate worries for most Americans.

The Gulf War had weakened Iraq, and any further thoughts of external aggression by its ruler, Saddam Hussein, were being contained by U.S.-enforced no-fly zones and United Nations sanctions. As for Afghanistan, its Taliban rulers were well known here for their internal repressions but few of us realized they had welcomed Osama bin Laden and his terrorist training camps into their midst.

The 2,973 American deaths the next day, in New York City, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., instantly ended our years of near-passivity, in which we had thought of the Taliban, al-Qaida and other international terrorists as the primary responsibility of other countries.

President Bush's call for a global war on terror was met with near-unanimous approval. As a nation we strongly agreed to overthrow the Taliban regime and replace it with a moderate government, and to pursue and capture or destroy international terrorists.

At first the president showed the leadership the country needed. The Taliban killers were soon routed, we helped form a new Afghan government and the hunt was on for bin Laden.

What happened next remains for history to uncover. Believed boxed in at Tora Bora cave encampments, near Afghanistan's border with Pakistan, Osama bin Laden might have been captured but the U.S. Central Command never sent ground troops, as desperately requested by the CIA officer assigned to track the world's most wanted man.

That was a turning point in Bush's war on terror. Inexplicably, the president turned his attention to Iraq, suggesting that Saddam Hussein was linked with 9/11 and that this is where our forces should be concentrated.

None of the numerous reasons Bush listed for going to war in Iraq have panned out. Today we have 145,000 troops committed to this ill-advised and badly led war, while just 20,000 are assigned to Afghanistan. Whereas Iraq had been contained, today the country is a terrorist haven draining the resources that should be going into a truly global war on terror.

Bush also erred badly in setting up secret prisons in Europe for detainees and endorsing torture as an acceptable interrogation technique, outraging our international allies. On the home front, Bush has divided Americans by strengthening his powers while attempting to weaken the U.S. Constitution as well as Congress' powers.

Immediately after 9/11 most of the world was in our corner, and most Americans, regardless of political affiliation, supported Bush as he bore the responsibility for our response. We're confident that such political capital can return if voters support leadership changes in Congress and the White House.