Susan Lenfestey: Sure, OK, the surge is working; we concede*

* On that point only (and it's really no surprise). It doesn't validate the entire enterprise.

By SUSAN LENFESTEY

Last update: December 20, 2007 - 12:11 PM

Columnist Clifford May recently suggested that those of us who doubted that the surge would work should now concede graciously that we were wrong (Star Tribune, Dec. 7).

Fair enough. We're all exhausted from the divisiveness of this war, so in the holiday spirit -- and with my fingers crossed -- I'll take a break from the rancor and say what he wants to hear: The Surge is Working.

But the doubt was never about the prowess and might of the American military, or that adding more troops would offer short-term security. We rolled into Baghdad almost five years ago with astonishing ease and very few American casualties. As we all know, it was after that when things got deadly.

The doubt was and is about the wisdom and veracity of the American leadership, about the reasons for invading Iraq and about what will happen when we leave -- if we ever do. And on that score, a concession is premature.

Old news, but we invaded Iraq to rid the country of Saddam Hussein and his weapons of mass destruction. Well, Saddam is gone and there were no weapons of mass destruction. Both good. Instead the country is flooded with American weapons of medium destruction.

According to a new report prepared by the inspector general of the Department of Defense, more than $1 billion in military equipment supplied to Iraqi forces, including machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, cannot be accounted for. On top of that, the Iraqi government has signed deals to buy $1.6 billion of arms from the United States, with another $1.8 billion in possible purchases set to happen before the end of this year.

If the lull in the violence is indeed a turning point and not a hiccup -- and who would not hope for that? -- have we gotten what we paid for? As of this month, 3,883 U.S. soldiers had been killed in Iraq and 28,582 had been seriously wounded. And it's costing us $270 million a day, totaling more than $600 billion thus far, with President Bush asking for $200 billion more for 2008.

Invading Iraq was, is and will continue to be a disaster for America. Sorry, Mr. May, in the holiday spirit of light prevailing over darkness, I'll keep saying the surge is working. But I'm not ready to make nice.

Susan Lenfestey lives in Minneapolis and writes at clotheslineblog.com.

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