Battlefield Congress

Politics is an inseparable part of war. It is a front that must be defended. If you don’t, the enemy can win as surely as if they destroyed your army in the field. In the Iraq war, this front is undefended.

Eventually, Democrats, joined by an increasing number of Republicans will impose a schedule for withdrawal from Iraq. If the President fails to develop a plan to fight that political aspect of the conflict, he will loose the war.

Think of it in classical military terms. You are fighting a war on multiple fronts. You are making slow progress that could lead to victory with enough time, but on one front the enemy is massing an overwhelming force that can not be stopped. Any first year West Point cadet will tell you that the appropriate tactic is a delaying action.

DOD defines a delaying action as “An operation in which a force under pressure trades space for time by slowing down the enemy’s momentum.”

In other words, retreat slowly in one place, to buy time for your other forces to win the war.

After Gen. Petraeus gives his report in September, it will be too late. Pressure in Congress to impose an immediate withdrawal will become irresistible. Only before that point does the President have the option of announcing a time table for withdrawal that is long enough and flexible enough to leave open the possibility of victory.

Just prior to the September report, the President should announce:

“The Baghdad security plan has improved the situation on the ground sufficiently to begin the transfer of primary security responsibility for all of Iraq’s provinces to Iraqi forces. Therefore, consistent with military realities on the ground, we set a goal of transitioning from our current 155,000 man combat force to a 75,000 man training, advisory and counter terrorism role to begin within 6 months and to be completed within 18 months.”

With this announcement, the President would de-fang critics who are demanding immediate withdrawal. Any who complain that it isn’t fast enough or that the President leaves himself too much wiggle room in “consistent with military realities on the ground” would look like extremists who will accept nothing less than immediate defeat.

It would dramatically increase the support of the American people, who at heart, just want to be reassured that the war isn’t going to go on forever, and most importantly, it would buy the President additional time to produce a positive result in Iraq.

Embracing a time line of his own design would give the President a free hand in the conduct of the war until nearly the end of his Presidency. Failure to recognize the imperative of defending the political front deprives the President of that advantage.