Editorial: Remembering 9/11

Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2007 | 7:27 a.m.

The juxtaposition of the sixth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the latest Iraqi progress report tells the sad story of how far America has strayed in its fight against terrorism.

On a day we should be honoring the dead with our strong fight against terrorism, Americans are deeply rooted in a war that has little to do with the fight. And the Bush administration is telling the country we should stay the course.

Stay the course?

The war in Iraq is not a war on terrorism. It is a tragic experiment at nation building, in which more than 3,700 American soldiers have been killed and more than 27,000 have been injured. Billions of dollars have been spent building a government infused with sectarian violence and capped by corruption.

Testifying before Congress on Tuesday about the Bush administration's troop "surge," Army Gen. David Petraeus said violence was down. U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker said the troop surge prevented Iraq from "unraveling." But the troop surge shows the administration's continued failure to provide any long-term solution for a war it launched with faulty and trumped-up evidence.

The surge undoubtedly paid short-term dividends, as it should have. Any time there are more soldiers, the violence should drop. But what happens when they leave?

The surge was supposed to give the Iraqi government "breathing room" to build itself up, yet the government has, by all accounts, failed miserably.

Despite Petraeus' "belief" that troops would start coming home over the next year, the reality is the success of the Iraqi government is wholly dependent on the presence of the U.S. military.

Petraeus' track record in predicting success in Iraq is dubious. Three years ago, before the election, he wrote in The Washington Post of his optimism, saying he saw "tangible progress" as the Iraqi leaders were "stepping forward" and rebuilding the government.

And here we are again, no closer to pulling out of Iraq and no closer to successfully waging the war on terrorism because the government's focus is elsewhere.

The face of terrorism, al-Qaida leader and 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden, is still on the loose, still plotting and likely near the Afghani-Pakistani border. Yet he is almost an afterthought.

Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson tried to dismiss bin Laden as "more symbolism than anything else." What he symbolizes, however, is the Bush administration's failure.

The country deserves better. It deserves a commitment to a timely withdrawal from Iraq, and an end to a frivolous and tragic war.