We just passed two significant milestones in the Iraq War. First, President Bush observed the fifth anniversary of America's ill-advised invasion by repeating his mantra: "the surge is working." Then the tragic loss of four soldiers raised our nation's death toll in Iraq to 4,000.
For those of us who opposed the War in Iraq from its outset as a distraction from destroying the terrorist organization that attacked us on 9/11, these markers bring no comfort and only remind us of the dangers of a war of choice, not necessity.
Life is precious. The families of those 4,000 brave soldiers who died in combat should always know that their loved ones represent the best our nation has to offer and did everything that was asked of them. The American soldiers who have served in Iraq are heroes. However, their orders should have remained to find and eliminate Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan. We have taken our eye off the ball for the last five years, allowing the terrorists who attacked us to regenerate after American troops routed the Taliban in Afghanistan. As a result, we are no safer today than prior to 9/11, when my older brother, David, was killed in the World Trade Center.
The anger and frustration that I felt that day came flooding back to me recently when Edward Gistrano, chief U.S intelligence analyst for international terrorism, told Congress that Al Qaeda has been "able to exploit the comfort zone in the tribal areas" of Pakistan and Afghanistan and is "bringing people in to train for Western operations."
The Bush administration uses a classic "bait-and-switch" argument to claim we are fighting Al-Qaeda in Iraq, but the criminal network that killed my brother is not in Iraq. Bin Laden and his followers are still taunting the Western world from the caves of Pakistan. The only terrorist organization that has ever killed American civilians on American soil is not in Iraq, no matter how much President Bush and his allies try to make it seem so in order to save their party from lasting political damage.
Americans are weary of this war and the stubborn and oblivious refusal of some leaders in Washington to acknowledge the truth. My opponent, U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, rubber-stamps President Bush about the success of the surge. He warned of mushroom clouds from WMDs, but now blames the media for "hyping" WMDs in Iraq -- not Bush, Inhofe or Cheney. This absurdity would be funny if it were also not so tragic.
Republican presidential nominee John McCain recently said that America stands "on the precipice of winning a major victory" in Iraq. And Vice President Cheney, when recently asked by a reporter about polls showing two-thirds of Americans believe the War in Iraq is not worth fighting, simply stated: "So?" These politicians seem to think they are entitled to their own reality.
There can be no mistaking that now, after five years of bloody confrontation, the U.S. mission in Iraq is about policing a brutal civil war -- not about fighting global terrorism. That fight is in Pakistan and Afghanistan. General David Petraeus, who reports to Congress on the status of the war early next month, has said along with others that the War in Iraq can only be ended politically, not militarily. I think we can safely say that American troops have done their job. It is time for America's political leaders to do theirs.
Andrew Rice represents Oklahoma State Senate district 46. He is currently running for U.S. Senate.