International Herald Tribune Editorial - Four years since Saddam came tumbling down

International Herald Tribune Editorial - Four years since Saddam came tumbling down
Copyright by The International Herald Tribune
Published: April 12, 2007

Four years ago this week, as American troops made their first, triumphant entrance into Baghdad, joyous Iraqis pulled down a giant statue of Saddam Hussein.

It was powerful symbolism - a murderous dictator toppled, residents of Baghdad taking to the streets without fear, American soldiers hailed as liberators.

After four years of occupation, untold numbers killed by death squads and suicide bombers, and searing experiences like Abu Ghraib, few Iraqis still look on American soldiers as liberators.

Instead, thousands marked this week's anniversary by burning American flags and marching through the streets of Najaf chanting, "Death to America."

Once again, tens of thousands of American troops are pouring into Baghdad. On Wednesday the Pentagon announced that battle-weary United States Army units in Iraq would have to stay on for an additional three months past their scheduled return dates.

President George W. Bush is desperately gambling that by stretching the Army to the absolute limits of its deployable strength, he may be able to impose some relative calm in the capital.

He seems to imagine that should that gamble succeed, the Shiite-dominated government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki will, without any serious pressure from Washington, take the steps toward sharing political power and economic resources it has tenaciously resisted since the day it took office a year ago.

Unless Maliki takes those steps - eliminating militia and death squad members from the Iraqi army and police, fairly sharing oil revenues, and rolling back laws that deny political and economic opportunities to the Sunni middle class - no lasting security gains are possible.

More Iraqi and American lives will be sacrificed.

Even among Shiites, who suffered so much at the hands of Saddam Hussein and who are the supposed beneficiaries of Maliki's shortsighted policies, there is a deep disillusionment and anger.

This week, a Washington Post reporter interviewed Khadim al-Jubouri, who four years ago swung his sledgehammer to help knock down the dictator's statue.

Jubouri said that ever since he watched that statue being built he had nourished a dream of bringing it down and ushering in much better times. Now, with friends and relatives killed, kidnapped or driven from their homes, the prices of basic necessities soaring and electricity rationed to four hours a day, Jubouri says the change of regimes "achieved nothing" and he has come to hate the American military presence he once welcomed.

Maliki's supporters can be even more frightening to listen to.

This week's demonstration in Najaf was organized by the fiercely anti-American Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, whose political party and militia helped put Maliki in power and are still among his most important allies.

Two months into the Baghdad security drive, the gains Bush is banking on have not materialized. More American soldiers continue to arrive, and their commanders are talking about extending the troop buildup through the fall or into early next year. After four years, the political trend is even more discouraging.

There is no possible triumph in Iraq and very little hope left.