Iraq: a way forward? Is victory still possible in Iraq?

Last March, Republicans and Democrats in Congress authorized the creation of a bipartisan panel, the Iraq Study Group. The group was asked to assess the reasons behind the growing violence in Iraq, and to offer solutions to a conflict that has stymied United States officials.

Since the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, almost nothing has gone according to plan. Before the war, Vice President Dick Cheney said that U.S. troops would be "greeted as liberators" from Saddam Hussein's dictatorship. Now, nearly four years later, U.S. soldiers are policing increasingly violent attacks among ethnic, religious, and political groups that are struggling for power. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell and others say that these conflicts have pushed Iraq into a "civil war."

To date, more than 3,000 U.S. troops have been killed and more than 20,000 have been injured. Estimates of Iraqi deaths range from 100,000 to more than 650,000. Already the U.S. has spent more than $350 billion on the conflict, with no end in sight.

Not even the bringing of Saddam Hussein to justice went as planned. His hasty hanging by the Iraqi government became an embarrassment to the Bush administration after a cell phone video of the chaotic scene was leaked. A worldwide outcry followed.

A New Plan

The Iraq Study Group, which released its report in December, called for drastic changes to what they termed the Bush administration's "failed" Iraq policy.

But Democratic leaders and some Republicans have questioned whether victory in Iraq is still possible. "The President ... is grasping for a victory his current policies have put out of reach," Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D, Nevada) told The Washington Post in December.

As JS went to press, Bush was preparing to announce a new strategy in Iraq. As he wrote in The Wall Street Journal, he wants to "help the Iraqi people gain control of the security situation and hasten the day when the Iraqi government gains full control over its affairs." But he acknowledged that the outcome in Iraq is not entirely up to the U.S. "Ultimately," Bush added, "Iraqis must resolve the pressing issues facing them. We can't do it for them."

* Objective Students should be able to:

* understand why so many people want to know how President Bush will respond to recommendations made by the new Secretary of Defense and the Iraq Study Group.

* Background

The report of the Iraq Study Group, issued on December 6, presented 79 specific recommendations for change in the country's Iraq policy. Even before the report was released, experts predicted that important recommendations would not be accepted by the White House. Said co-chairman James A. Baker III: "I hope we don't treat this like a fruit salad and say, 'I like this, but I don't like that.'" President Bush's response to the report was partly based on alternate proposals assembled by Jack D. Crouch II, deputy national security adviser, from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the State and Treasury Departments, and the National Security Council.

* Critical Thinking

MAKING INFERENCES/MAIN IDEA: Why was it important that the Iraq Study Group be bipartisan? Explain. (If it was dominated by one party, some would suspect the group of "playing politics" to support its own ideas.)

* Activity

STAYING INFORMED: Encourage students to discuss President Bush's new Iraq Strategy. What might any proposed changes mean for U.S. troops in Iraq? (See also the News Debate on p. 7.) Do students think that the President sufficiently responded to the desire among Americans to change course in Iraq? How or how not?

STANDARD

SOCIAL STUDIES, GRADES 5-8

* Global connections: U.S political decisions affect millions of Iraqis, as well as thousands of U.S. troops and their families.

RESOURCES

PRINT

* Augustin, Byron, and Kubena, Jake, Iraq [Children's Press/Scholastic, 2006). Grades 5-8.

* Stamaty, Mark Alan, Alia's Mission (Random House, 2004). Grades 4-7.

WEB SITES

* Children of Iraq/UNICEF unicef.org/emerg/iraq/index.html

* Kids in Iraq

teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/indepth/iraq