Editorial: Ominous plan for Iraq

Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2007 | 7:14 a.m.

It is a near certainty now that President Bush will argue on behalf of escalating the Iraq war when he addresses the nation Wednesday evening. News organizations are reporting that he will call for sending up to 20,000 more troops in an attempt to quell the sectarian violence that is overwhelming the 140,000 U.S. troops already in the country.

The concept, apparently, is that additional troops will be able to prevail over the civil war that is now taking thousands of Iraqi lives a month and rendering the country's government virtually impotent.

Along with the troops, Bush plans to infuse Iraq with more economic aid for infrastructure repairs. Even though billions have already been expended for this purpose, Bush will argue that more aid will provide more Iraqis with jobs, thereby bringing more stability.

Much of Iraq's infrastructure has been destroyed or badly damaged by the civil war and the insurgency that have taken the lives of more than 3,000 American troops.

In exchange for the additional troops and money, administration officials have said, Bush will demand guarantees from Iraq's government leaders that they will finally backtrack from sectarian infighting and adopt inclusive economic, political and social policies and establish disciplined military and police forces to provide for their own security.

Bush's naive plan would contradict the conclusions of the congressionally appointed and bipartisan Iraq Study Group, which called for defusing the tensions in Iraq by committing to a phased withdrawal of combat troops, engaging Iraq's neighbors in diplomatic talks and increasing our efforts to train Iraqi military and police forces.

Also, in the run-up to the war, Bush refused to listen to competent military advice and ignored information from intelligence agencies that contradicted his own determination to invade. Now he seems prepared to ignore the majority of American voters, who placed Democrats in control of Congress because they wanted to see a plan for ending the war.