Time limits in Iraq

The day after President Bush clarified his remarks about the extent of combat continuing in Iraq, a truck bomb explosion ripped through a hotel used by the United Nations at its headquarters in Baghdad, suggesting how much fighting is left and how deeply what happens in Iraq affects other nations. The attack is an opportunity for the United States to ask these nations to help provide expanded security, adding more specialists in peacekeeping and demonstrating that the fighting is less about the U.S. occupation and more about freeing Iraq from the remains of a tyrannical government.

The president was making a distinction between “major combat,” which he announced May 1 had ended, and “combat,” which he observed is continuing. Whether it is a useful distinction remains to be seen, but it exposes almost as well as early administration plans to leave Iraq after only a few months the lack of foresight for what would arrive after Saddam Hussein left. The administration still seems surprised by the degree of retaliation as the president condemned the bombing that killed more than a dozen and wounded scores. He said, “The civilized world will not be intimidated.”

Indeed, it won’t, but it should be reflective. Even as U.S. forces captured fleeing Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, Iraqi guerrilla forces remain organized enough to carry out this serious attack and are certainly planning more. The bombing may not qualify as combat, but it meets the definition of major.

As the bombing occurred, former Maine senator and former secretary of defense, Bill Cohen, far away in Indianapolis, was telling the National Governors Association about the need for broader international support in Iraq. He said the United States needed to share more and better intelligence with other nations and that this would require, first, that the United States improve relationships with them. He added that while the president was correct to plan on a long stay in Iraq, the window of opportunity there to succeed was open for only a short time, perhaps several more months.

Those responsible for the bombing must know that, too. If they are right, whether the United States remains in Iraq for an extended period becomes much less important than what it is able to accomplish short term. If the current ability of guerrilla fighters continues to disrupt attempts to supply power, water, food, security and the many other necessities for rebuilding Iraq, the long-term occupation may look like a resumption of major combat, whatever it is called.