Americans take for granted that when you flip a switch, the lights will come on. When we watched the Capital One Bowl, it did not even enter our minds that the television may kick off at any time, along with the microwave, alarm clocks and electric heaters.
In Baghdad, the electricity can — and will — shut off at any time. This is due to the fact that during the week of Dec. 28, Baghdad averaged only 5.4 hours of electricity per day, according to the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs of the Department of State.
When Coalition Forces occupied Iraq in 2003, they brought the promise of a better future. Keeping the lights and the air conditioning on when it is a scorching 100 degrees in July is essential to make Iraq a livable place. In a socialist state like Iraq, the average person is dependent on the state for everything, including health care, funding pensions and even timely delivery of rations. If Americans were forced to live like Iraqis, they would be calling everyone from MG&E to Congress, especially during a heat wave. For Iraqis, many have decided to take up arms against the inept Iraqi government.
Last November’s election proved that Americans are not happy with the lack of progress in Iraq. In a speech Jan. 10, President Bush admitted that there have been mistakes in Iraq, including too few troops on the ground and a strategy that has tied the hands of those serving there. The proposed solution by President Bush is sending 20,000 troops to Iraq in a troop surge before turning over security of all 18 governates to the Iraqis. This is in addition to the Iraqi government spending $10 billion of its own money for reconstruction projects.
This plan creates two problems. The first is that the military is already near a breaking point. On Jan. 11, the Pentagon announced that it had canceled the rule that stated reservists and National Guard soldiers could only be deployed two years out of every five. In January 2005, then Army Chief of the Army Reserve Lieutenant General James Helmly stated that “overuse” of the Reserves in Iraq and Afghanistan would lead to a “broken force.” While the Department of Defense claims there is no problem with enlistment and retention of active duty troops, the Pentagon’s plan of extending the use of already overextended reservists and National Guard soldiers shows that there just are not enough troops to send to Iraq, let alone Afghanistan, Iran or Darfur. The Army, National Guard and Reserve may break under current deployment timetables sooner rather than later.
More importantly, President Bush’s plan does not address the true problem in Iraq: Why do the Iraqis insist on shooting each other rather than working together to build a better future? A major reason is the fact that most Iraqis do not have the basic necessities like clean water and electricity. When Coalition forces invaded Iraq, they inherited a tattered infrastructure. The United States, however, has not invested nearly enough in what Iraqis need — the World Bank estimates that $12 billion is needed to fix the electrical infrastructure in Iraq. As of Jan. 3, the United States has contributed less than $3 billion.
It is difficult to fix Iraqis’ power lines when they are constantly blown up. Few major headlines, however, look at why they are being blown up in the first place. There is not enough electricity or jobs, and there is the constant fear that American troops could be banging down your door at any time. When someone propositions an Iraqi man in this position to do something he would not normally do for more money than he could make on the street, too often it is an offer he cannot refuse.
The solution to Iraq lies in partially fixing the security situation so there is a stable environment in which the economy can grow. Security will never be established, however, until enough Iraqis are secure economically and have a real incentive to put down their arms. Troop increases have been used with minimal success due to the fact that the foot soldiers in the insurgencies and militias do not have adequate reason to stop fighting.
The solution to Iraq is not easy, but it is not found with more troops. The solution lies with more State Department Provincial Reconstruction Teams working in conjunction with the Iraqi government to build the Iraqi infrastructure and create an environment in which Iraqis can live the lives we promised them when we invaded in 2003.
Jeff Carnes ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in linguistics.
