September began with 140,000 American troops in Iraq -- 13,000 more than in late July.

Almost 30 months have passed since Time magazine’s mid-April 2004 cover story, “No Easy Options,” reported that “foreign policy luminaries from both parties say a precipitous U.S. withdrawal would cripple American credibility, doom reform in the Arab world and turn Iraq into a playground for terrorists and the armies of neighboring states like Iran and Syria.”

Back then, according to the USA’s largest-circulation newsmagazine, “the most” that the president could hope for was that “some kind of elected Iraqi government will eventually emerge from the wreckage, at which point the U.S. could conceivably reduce the number of its troops significantly. But getting there requires a commitment of at least several more months of American blood and treasure.”

Civilian control of the military means that the president is accountable to citizens, not generals. But -- despite the growing opposition to the Iraq war, as reflected in national opinion polls -- the president fervently declares his commitment to the U.S. war effort. Rather than directly proclaim that he will ignore public opinion, Bush prefers to shift the discussion from domestic political accountability to ostensible military necessity.

Fast forward more than two years, to a story that broke last month. The Associated Press reported on ascending U.S. troop totals in Iraq: “The increase comes as the U.S. Marine Corps is preparing to order thousands of its troops to active duty in the first involuntary recall since the early days of the war.” The explanation from the head of the Marines’ manpower mobilization, Col. Guy A. Stratton, was telling. “Since this is going to be a long war,” he said, “we thought it was judicious and prudent at this time to be able to use a relatively small portion of those Marines to help us augment our units.”

But it’s not up to military officers to decide whether this is going to be a long war. Under the Constitution, in theory, the president and Congress share that power -- derived from the consent of the governed. We must hold the president and Congress accountable.
Spinning the Troop Levels in Iraq

Bush says Bring 'Em On, but we say BRING THEM HOME NOW
BringThemHomeNow.org