Common Ground: Saddam Hussein nostalgia

Cal Thomas is a conservative columnist. Bob Beckel is a liberal Democratic strategist. But as longtime friends, they can often find common ground on issues that lawmakers in Washington cannot.

Today: Iraq, revisited

CAL: In the 1950s, Democrats and Republicans debated "Who lost China?" Republicans blamed the policies of Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman that led to the defeat of nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek and the triumph of Mao Zedong's communist forces. I hope we don't have to ask the same question about Iraq.

BOB: Although George W. Bush committed us to the Iraq War, he first won the approval of Congress. Those voting to go to war included Democrats, such as Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The mistake Bush made was to bill the Iraq invasion as a short-term effort to not only topple Saddam Hussein but also to root out weapons of mass destruction, which he said threatened our allies in the region, especially Israel. We now know there was no active WMD program. Instead of leaving, Bush stayed for nation-building.

CAL: The surge crafted by Gen. David Petraeus and approved by President Bush was working. It gave Iraqis a chance to build a new country of their own making. But when President Obama decided to prematurely remove American forces, arguing he was elected to "end wars," Iraq collapsed faster than an undercooked cake in the oven. The problem with this non-strategy is that a war doesn't end when one side retreats. That approach merely encourages the enemy to fight on because they see themselves as eventual victors.

BOB: Cal, the United States was tired of war. We lost over 4,000 soldiers, and 30,000 were wounded. We spent almost $1 trillion on that war and attempts at reconstruction and democratization. Ten of billions were spent on equipping and training the Iraqi military, and yet when the showdown came with the Islamic State terrorist organization, Iraqi soldiers cut and ran. The U.S. military cannot fight Iraq's war for them. We can provide air support and logistics, but no more American blood.

CAL: The country may be "tired of war," but our enemies most certainly are not. They are just getting started. Developments in Iraq and Syria can only encourage them. I think Iraq can still be redeemed from the ISIL murderers. We need to send in hundreds of teams of special operations troops with air cover and ground support to take out the top ISIL leadership and show these killers that they have no future and that Allah is not on their side.

BOB: That is precisely what President Obama did when he ordered commandos into Syria, where ISIL moneyman Abu Sayyaf was killed and his wife, Umm Sayyaf, captured. Special ops also confiscated computers that may contain useful intelligence. They also freed a young Yazidi woman, who reportedly had been held as a slave by ISIL. The administration has begun to re-think its strategy for fighting ISIL. It is expanding and speeding shipments of military equipment to Iraq security forces and improving training for fighters from Sunni tribes.

CAL: I applaud that action and the arms shipments, but this should have been done long ago, back when the president called ISIL "a JV team." They look like "varsity" to me. I hope this reluctant action by the president is not too little, too late. He should multiply by many times the number of such operations, which in addition to killing ISIL leaders would also give confidence to Iraqi forces and help them do a better job. Ultimately, it's their country, and only they can save it.

BOB: I expect there is much more going on that we don't know about. There's no question that losing Ramadi was a setback, but with the help of U.S. commandos, the Iraq military may surprise us and take back this important city. It will cost a lot more money, but this time Iraq and its neighbors — like Saudi Arabia, which has much to lose if ISIL is successful — should pay the bill. Like many other Americans, I'm tired of the U.S. taxpayer paying for foreign wars, especially when the countries we defend have raked in huge oil profits.

CAL: I completely agree. We should send them a message by sending them a bill. We have a crushing $18 trillion debt, a good portion of it because of these open-ended wars. The president should also give everyone in the area who is committed to eliminating the ISIL threat — from Saudi Arabia to Egypt to Jordan — all the weapons they need.

BOB: There is plenty of blame to go around for the failures in Iraq. One we didn't mention was the European civil servants who, after World War I, arbitrarily drew the borders for the current Iraq and much of the region. How dumb can you be to draw a border for a country that includes Sunnis and Shiites who hate each other and then throw in the Kurds who hate them both!

CAL: It makes you nostalgic for the old Ottoman Empire. Dictatorships are not necessarily bad when they keep the lid on and prevent religious and secular factions from warring against each other. Yes, Saddam Hussein was a tyrant, but he kept the Sunnis and Shiites from each others' throats.

BOB: ISIL claims to have soldiers inside the U.S. Given its rapid expansion in Syria and Iraq, even recruiting British and U.S. citizens to fight for them, I don't doubt it. Our first priority should be to protect the homeland. If we don't, a future generation might ask, "Who lost America?"

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