The quicksand beneath the fence
The problem with the war in Iraq — aside from the military and civilian deaths, the breathtaking public cost, the international loss of prestige, and the bitterness it has spawned at home — is that it keeps yanking the rug out from under all non-partisan fence-sitters. Just when you think you can safely, and permanently, come down on one side of the debate or the other, you feel the carpet start to slide away once again.
That’s probably why the presidential candidates have all but stopped talking about the war. What was once a red-meat issue for their core constituencies is now a tofu-patty issue. The last candidate I can recall even mentioning Iraq in a significant way was my homeboy John Edwards, who last week stridently declared he’d get America out, pronto — which sounded a little weird to me, considering that things are stable for the moment. (Or as the New York Times diplomatically put it in a story on Edwards’ Iraq policy: “Some elements of his plan … run counter to assessments by intelligence agencies, military officers and a Congressionally mandated study.”)
That’s probably also why a recently published statistical snapshot of life in Iraq came and went last week with almost no comment. Few of us knew what to make of it.
I found it buried on the back page of my local newspaper. (You can see it here.) It shows that while oil production in Iraq is still a little below its prewar level, Iraqis now have more water, sewer capacity and telephone lines than they did before the war. And outside of Baghdad, where reliable electricity remains a problem, power is available for many more hours a day than it was prior to the U.S. invasion.
Isn’t that, like, you know, really good? It sure seems so. But in that same table, you can see that the total estimated cost of the war is now set at $13 trillion, once all the direct and indirect expenses are factored. Isn’t that, like, you know, a whole bunch of money?
The answers, in order: Yes and yes.
Then there’s the uncomfortable flesh-and-blood matter of American casualties. It turns out that 2007 was the deadliest year for the military since the invasion almost five years ago. But American casualties in the last month of 2007 were the lowest in almost four years.
If you can wander into that statistical quicksand and still find a firm place to stand, you’re a lot smarter than I am. Or maybe you just wear those special no-sink shoes partisans use when they skim over contradictory facts.