Written by DAVID KEYES

January 30, 2005

I would like to call readers to the attention of two new articles I had the (dis)pleasure of reading this morning:

Audit: $9 Billion Unaccounted for in Iraq
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...i_ea/iraq_funds

Deadline for Troop Withdrawal Ruled Out
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...47674_2005jan29

Defenders (and even a few naysayers) of the current White House regime have touted on and on about how important it is for Iraq to be stable enough before a complete handover is imminent. Those with their heads in the sand believed the elections were the key to this happening; unfortunately, as the administration clearly establishes in the latter article, any kind of strategy for pulling out troops is not possible until late 2005 at the earliest (although ground troops will be shifted in some areas where levels of violence are rather miniscule compared to others). Is this an indirect way of Bush and his cronies of admitting it was wrong to insist on nationwide voting so early? Better yet, does anyone under the thumb of good ol' Dubya even know how to say the word "mistake?"

Promises after promises have been founded on the watch of this political family, and each time the outlook gets a little bleaker, the inevitable "we need more time" rhetoric is used as some kind of verbal immunity over past comments. What will be the excuse when we move into 2006? What if Iraq is incapable of being internally manageable until 2007 or even 2008? Will our elected officials still insist that we did the right thing without admitting it might have mismanaged the initial strategy?

The former article doesn't say anything we didn't already know instinctively, but it is yet another sign of the impending disaster this war will have on our nation economically in coming generations. This year's deficit alone will reach record proportions, what with the president requesting additional funds. As such, now is the time for the administration to stop hiding behind its self-imposed political gag order and start being frank with the American public about its intentions with billions of tax dollars. No more hiding behind the "trust us" rhetoric -- we need them to take responsibility for their actions and offer a tangible plan for the future, otherwise dialogue about an exit strategy will go nowhere beyond being just ordinary pipe dreams.