By "they" I mean the military. By "our" I mean the civilian population. By "help" I'm referring to the "reconstruction and political development" of Iraq.
Has the White House put too much of a burden on the Pentagon to fix Iraq? Let's find out...
The title (Military Wants More Civilians to Help in Iraq) from the New York Times story kinda gives it away, but it seems like the answer is "yes." From the story:
The complaints reflect fresh tensions between the Pentagon and the State Department over personnel demands that have fallen most heavily on the military. But they also draw on a deeper reservoir of concerns among officers who have warned that a military buildup alone cannot solve Iraq’s problems, and who now fear that the military will bear a disproportionate burden if Mr. Bush’s strategy falls short.
Among particular complaints, the officers cited a request from the office of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that military personnel temporarily fill more than one-third of 350 new State Department jobs in Iraq that are to be created under the new strategy.
The Pentagon is becoming aware that if/when Iraq fails, they will be the scapegoat, much like the intelligence agencies were blamed for the bad intelligence information used in the runup to the war. For example: asking roughly 120 soldiers - who thought their main assignment would be security - to preform the jobs of clerks, accountants and diplomats does not seem to be a recipe for success...at least not in the traditional sense.
But that's what they're being asked to do:
The State Department, leading an interagency effort, has been ordered to expand the provincial reconstruction teams in Baghdad and western Anbar Province to accelerate political and economic development at the local level.
Small teams of American personnel are to be placed inside Iraqi ministries to make sure that $10 billion in Iraqi funds committed to the effort are spent, and spent correctly.
So how does the State Department plan on getting (presumably untrained) civilians to help pick up the slack?
State Department officials say they are using both incentives and subtler pressures to induce employees to go to Iraq.
But from the standpoint of personal security, taking those jobs — many of them, by definition, outside the relative safety of the Green Zone — is widely seen as an unattractive career option.
I can only imagine what the "subtler pressures" are. But I'm sure it will be the "Story of the Week" sooner than later.
I guess the bottom line is that the Pentagon needs help. Bush is using them like a plaything (looking at the pork he's put into the military budget is proof enough of that) for solely political purposes. What's worse is that he's asked the American people to turn a blind eye while this has been happening. It has to stop.