WASHINGTON (By John Holusha,
NYTimes) January 18, 2007 —
A panel of retired generals told a United
States Senate committee today that sending 21,500 additional troops to Iraq
will do little to solve the underlying political problems in the country.
“Too little and too late,” is the way Gen.
Joseph P. Hoar, a former chief of the Central Command, described the effort
to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The additional troops are
intended to help pacify Baghdad and a restive province, but General Hoar
said American leaders had failed to understand the political forces at work
in the country. “The solution is political, not military,” he said.
“A fool’s errand,” was the judgment of Gen.
Barry R. McCaffrey, who commanded troops in the first Gulf War. He said
other countries had concluded that the effort in Iraq was not succeeding,
noting that “our allies are leaving us and will be gone by summer.”
Describing the situation in Iraq as
“desperate but not terminal,” he said Iraqis had to try to make political
deals domestically and negotiate for stability with neighboring nations,
particularly Syria and Iran.
The American effort in Iraq has gone badly
because the United States did not understand the consequences of deposing
Saddam Hussein, said Lt. Gen. William E. Odom, a former director of the
National Security Agency. He said the principal beneficiary of the war was
Iran and Al Qaeda, not the United States.
“There is no way to win a war that is not
in your interests,” he said.
In statements and in questioning, senators
were skeptical about the increased commitment of troops and the likely
outcome of the deployment. Senator Richard Lugar, a Republican from Indiana,
noted that he had raised questions about the effort in Iraq as long ago as
2003, and said, “Today, I don’t have an understanding about how it will work
militarily.”
One general warned that even a plan to
start withdrawing American forces from the country carried the risk that the
armed Iraqi population will step up the level of attacks. “We will be shot
at as we are going out.” said Gen. Jack Keane, a former vice chief of staff
of the Army.
