A Too-Divided America

Owen West, a trader at Goldman Sachs who served two tours in Iraq with the Marines (and son of Bing West), wrote this important commentary for the Wall Street Journal. West is concerned, as am I, that America is too sharply divided today to spare either side blame. We have to change the way we do politics in America.

West’s argument:

 In the United States, the chasm that separates combatants in Iraq is too rarely discussed. Disillusion with the entire effort has obscured and in some cases mutated the truth that small numbers of evil men tilt entire populations. Nearly six years into the war on terror--which is being fought by less than 30% of the military and less than one-half of 1% of the nation—the stark irony of America in modern war has emerged.

 Our professional warriors who take the most risk believe the nation must commit to a long-term fight that includes Iraq in some form. Overall support for the endeavor wanes with distance. In past wars, the nation was tied to its soldiers and had a familial barometer. Today most Americans have never met a Gold Star family, let alone shaken the hand of a fallen soldier. The military community is increasingly insulated even as the burden of global war swells.

 [Many] assert the nation's most precious resource is our children. But during wartime our greatest asset may be our guardians. We are off to a terrible start in the long war, having allowed the Iraqi battlefield to embitter and weaken the country. [Yet] The public recognizes [the blessing the military offers us]. In July's Gallup Poll on America's most trusted institutions, the military ranked highest with a 69% confidence rating. Congress ranked last (below HMOs), with a 14% confidence rating.

 So it’s surprising that, according to an August CNN poll, 68% of Americans said Gen. David Petraeus's congressional testimony on Iraq this week would not sway their personal view one way or the other. Worse, 53% of Americans do not trust him to report what's really going on in Iraq, according to a USA Today/Gallup Poll. This wrenching inconsistency indicates a deeper problem—the poisonous partisan climate in Washington has seeped beyond the Beltway and is now harming the public's trust in the [military].

 Extremists from both political parties have used Iraq as a zero-sum emotional battle for votes instead of putting the battlefield in proper context. First, the Republicans declared the enemy in Iraq defeated before we started fighting, later employing invective to attack rational critics of the order of battle. Then Democrats declared the war lost just as we employed a new strategy. According to the Pew Research Center, 76% of Republicans expressed confidence in the military to give an "accurate picture of the war," but only 36% of Democrats did.

 Stepping back from the froth, this week will strengthen the country if political leaders recognize that a bipartisan course of action must be chosen in the context of [the] larger war on terror. If the politicians continue pulling the country apart, this game of chicken will end badly and imperil both Iraq and the U.S. If America were hit tomorrow there would be more finger-pointing than ranks closing. That must change.