It’s Our War Too

The President reinitiated certain major issues regarding the Romanian external affairs and security. One of the issues he reminded was standing upon the engagements towards our allies in the Iraq and Afghanistan matters, which is respectable.

However, I consider that there is something else that should come with the presentation of the Romanian external strategy and security referring to Iraq and Afghanistan. Especially in the case of Iraq, which affects the entire Middle East, due to the internal civil war. I am not one of the supporters of the precipitated withdrawal of the troops from Iraq, even though I have never trusted the strategy elaborated by Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, or Feith. "Cut and run" is not the formula to limit the damages in the current conditions. On the other hand, since we are part of the both coalitions, it is normal to show the way things develop on the two fronts. Democracy says the leaders must explain the consequences of their choices, consequences regarding fulfillments, failures and future actions. This is true for the external affairs and security of a democratic country as well.

The Romanians find out about Iraq and Afghanistan from the national media, which takes over articles in the foreign press, as well as opinions of certain foreign experts and officials. We also have comments from autochthonous analysts. But this is not enough. They have to go beyond the monotony of the phrases that emphasize the standing upon previous engagements with the allies. This type of speech has its merits but is not enough: it lacks in official information regarding the actual events. There are times in which, even if I know we have troops in Iraq and Afghanistan (which some might consider as non-combat), the way in which certain people refer to this situation makes me believe we are not part of the military operation in there (some might say "the Americans and the British are there at their own will; we are there due to several UN resolutions and the invitation from the Iraqi government…)

We should be very interested in the actual happenings in Iraq. With or without our will this is Romania’s war too. From time to time, President Traian Basescu referred to this issue, but we need a lot more than that. They should encourage public debates on external affairs and security, which is almost absent in our case.

The lack of statements regarding the Bush Jr. Administration is understandable, since it would complicate an environment which already has enough problems regarding the number of soldiers in Iraq. There is also an argument like "Romania is in Iraq because our strategic partner had asked this to us". If President Bush was forced to give up on the "state of denial" (as Bob Woodward described the behavior of the Administration in the Iraq matter), it would be natural for our officials to start offering the explanations I have talked about.

The Romanian President can also express his opinion regarding the things that could be done in Iraq. We are to see whether a regional conference is the way (as the Baker-Hamilton report recommends). It would be good to see that our participation in Iraq and Afghanistan is accompanied by anticipative and preventive thinking. Some might say this is too late. It is partly true. There are a lot of people that see Romania in Washington’s backwater no matter the circumstances, which is not so wonderful for our diplomacy. Not confirming this perception would bring the disappearance of the evoked speech monotony. We have to mention that Romania has a different opinion than the one of the Americans in the case of Kosovo, which is quite significant.

The U.S. need trusty friends to honestly tell them about the things that don’t work, and this kind of words has to be said at the right time. No matter what we thought before the 2003 military intervention in Iraq, now, we have to find a solution to limit the chaos. This seems like an almost impossible mission. However, we have to find it.