Iraq is a test the U.S. cannot afford to fail. The real patriots are the Americans protesting the inadequacies of the Bush administration's politically skewed policies.

Any debate over the Bush administration's Iraq policies should rest upon this foundation:

Success is likely to cost hundreds of billions of dollars and possibly hundreds more U.S. lives, but failure would cost far more.

Failure would mean far greater instability, violence and hardship in Iraq. Failure would open the door to power for radical, oppressive, anti-American groups. Failure could put the resources of an oil-rich and regionally influential nation in the hands of the very terrorists and religious zealots America is fighting to suppress.

The Middle East might, indeed, be remade, but into the polar opposite of what the United States desires and the region desperately needs. Instead of freedom and democracy, militant, anti-Western fanaticism could triumph and spread.

No matter how fraudulent Bush's justifications for invading Iraq, no matter how incompetent its prewar planning, the United States should not now withdraw, nor should it stagger on with insufficient resources and troops.

The costs of success must be paid.

In that light, the most damning criticism of the Bush administration - despite its cynical charges that critics are unpatriotic and want America to fail - is that it has refused to make the political, financial and ideological sacrifices necessary to succeed.

Rather than deal honestly with the American people and prepare them for a hard road, it hyped the threat from Saddam Hussein and grossly understated the costs and likely duration of the occupation.

Rather than compromise with a skeptical world community - anathema to administration neoconservatives - it went to war with few allies to share the burden.

Rather than jeopardize re-election by abandoning ideologically correct tax cuts to pay for Iraq, it sank the nation into enough debt to hamstring it for years.

Rather than increase the size and cost of the military, it chose to work U.S. troops to near-exhaustion, neglect training and politicize the promotion of generals to ensure cooperation.

Rather than adequately provide the expensive resources needed to put Iraq back on its feet, the administration let services and security founder for months.

In the light of such criticism, America should be questioning the patriotism of those in the White House who put re-election and ideology above the nation's interests.

© Copyright 2003 Roanoke Times

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