Iraq War Surpasses Time Span of U.S. Involvement in World War II
Iraq
The Eagle-Tribune
Bryan McGonigle
Boston University Washington News Service
Nov. 28, 2006
WASHINGTON, Nov. 28 – The war in Iraq has lasted longer than U.S. involvement in World War II, leaving analysts to ponder the differences between the two wars.
Last Saturday, the Iraq War reached 1,348 days – the same amount of time between the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 and the United States victory in 1945.
“I think there have been incredible miscalculations as to how long this war would last,” Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass., said about the Iraq War. “The war was mishandled from the very beginning and every step along the way.”
How did it take less time to win a massive war on three continents than it has taken to win a war in a country smaller than the northeastern United States? Analysts cite factors on both the battlefield and the home front.
“The fundamental difference is that there were armies to fight in World War II,” said Owen Cote Jr., associate director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Security Studies Program in Cambridge. “It was a traditional war. You basically have a struggle between two armies, and the one that gets defeated gives up.”
The United States is fighting a counterinsurgency campaign in Iraq – rather than a standard military conflict such as World War II – which makes it a tougher conflict to win, Cote said.
John Pike, director of the military analysis Web site globalsecurity.org, agreed.
“When we got into Berlin, it was game over,” Pike said. “But when we got to Baghdad, that was just the beginning of it.”.
Religion plays a role that wasn’t seen in the Second World War as well, Pike said. Now that Iraq is occupied by the United States and has a new government, religious sectarian violence among Sunni and Shiite Muslims has increased.
“After the world war, it was not as though the German Catholics were gunning down the German Lutherans,” Pike said. “Our problem with the Sunni is that they have not yet tasted defeat, and they do not think they’ve been defeated. They think that if the Americans go home, they can get right back in the saddle.”
Meehan said a major difference in the two wars was the cooperation of other nations in World War II versus the virtual unilateral effort of the United States in Iraq. He said he blames the Bush administration for going to war without a large international coalition.
“In World War II, we had significant allies committed to working with us,” Meehan said. “Allies came together. That’s what the big three at Yalta was all about, coming together to defeat the Germans.”
Army mobilization was a large factor in our success in World War II, Cote said. But since the Iraq invasion the U.S. military has not seen a significant increase in numbers, which Cote said is another reason the United States is struggling in this war.
“Most people would agree that if you wanted to add 50,000 to 100,000 to our Army, you wouldn’t need a draft,” Cote said. “You would have to lower standards. The standards we have are very high.”
Earlier this month, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., suggested sending more troops to Iraq. The bipartisan Iraq Study Group, led by former Secretary of State James Baker, discussed that option as well.
But military officials have said deploying more troops to Iraq would strain the U.S. military and wouldn’t offer a long-term solution. Gen. John P. Abizaid, who leads the U.S. Central Command, which includes Iraq, testified on Capitol Hill two weeks ago that sending more U.S. troops would discourage Iraqi troops from taking a lead in security operations there.
During World War II, the home front was united in the war effort. Food and supplies were rationed, Americans collected tin cans for war supplies and invested in war bonds. The government encouraged Americans to plant “victory gardens,” supplying themselves with fruits and vegetables.
“In World War II, we knew that we were at war,” Pike said. “The government did a lot of things to boost morale on the home front. [The Bush administration] is trying to have it both ways. They’re trying to fight a war when the home front’s at peace. They have not done anything to build solidarity on the home front.”
Public support for President Roosevelt remained high during World War II. Since the Iraq invasion, President Bush’s approval rating and public support for the war have both dropped below 50 percent – a major factor that ousted Republicans from Congress in the mid-term elections, according to exit polls.
“It’s pathetic,” Pike said. “[Bush Administration officials] talk about us being at war when it’s convenient for them to talk about it, but they have not mobilized the home front. The fact that the war is very unpopular is a direct result of that.”
Meehan said the window of opportunity for winning the Iraqi people’s hearts and minds has closed, and installing an American-style democracy is unrealistic and would take generations to accomplish. It may be impossible, he added, with the growing Iraqi impatience with the American occupation and the expanding insurgency.
“Ninety percent [of insurgents] are insurgents from within Iraq,” Meehan said. “The insurgency has been growing at a faster rate than we can eliminate the enemy. No unpopular occupying country can ever defeat insurgency in that country.”
Pike said he is not optimistic about American prospects in Iraq, either. Given the drawn-out nature of insurgencies in the last century and given the fact that Iraq doesn’t have a stable military, he said the United States will not see a victory in Iraq for a long time.
“Typically a counterinsurgency campaign takes at least a decade,” Pike said. “I would see us having Americans in Iraq for another 10 years on top of what we’ve been in there, unless it collapses on us in which case we’ll be out a lot sooner.”
Another major difference between World War II and the Iraq War is also seen in the death tolls. In World War II, more than 400,000 U.S. military personnel were killed, according to military reports. Since the Iraq invasion more than three years and eight months ago, almost 3,000 U.S. men and women have been killed in Iraq.
Although the death toll of the Iraq War has been significantly lower than that of World War II, critics of the Iraq War have maintained that the numbers are high enough to warrant a new course of action.
“I think we desperately need a change of direction in Iraq,” Meehan said. “We need a responsible exit strategy that will move Iraqi forces up front and allow us to safely redeploy our troops over six to eight months.”
U.S. Involvement in World War II Timeline
Dec. 7, 1941: Japanese bomb American Naval Base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, prompting United States to enter war.
1942: Germany and Japan achieve large victories against U.S. troops; United States and Britain land in North Africa.
1943: Roosevelt and Winston Churchill agree on goal of unconditional surrender; German 6th Army surrenders at Stalingrad; Nazis defeated in Africa; Allied troops land on Italian mainland.
1944: U.S. and British troops enter Rome; Allies launch invasion of Normandy, liberate Paris; Americans invade Philippines; Germans launch Battle of the Bulge.
1945: Yalta Agreement signed, establishing plan for occupation of Germany; Hitler commits suicide; Allies declare victory in Europe; atomic bombs are dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki; Soviet Union declares war on Japan; Japan surrenders.
Sept. 2, 1945: V-J day, Japanese sign surrender terms aboard the battleship Missouri.
Iraq War Timeline
March 20, 2003: United States launches Operation Iraqi Freedom at 5 a.m. Baghdad time.
2003: U.S. forces take control of Baghdad; President Bush declares end to major combat operations; Saddam Hussein is captured.
2004: Attacks on U.S. troops ensue; violence between Sunnis and Shiites increases; Sunni mob kills and mutilates four American civilians in Falluja; U.S. death toll in Iraq reaches 1,000.
2005: Iraqis elect a National Assembly, with 260 attacks on election day; Gen. John Abizaid says Iraq insurgency is as strong as it had been six months earlier; Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish leaders demand a specific time for the pullout of foreign troops; U.S. death toll in Iraq reaches 2,000;
2006: Abizaid says sectarian violence is strong and Iraqi civil war is possible; Pentagon reports dramatic death increase in Iraq; Hussein sentenced to death by hanging; U.S. mid-term elections reflect national dissatisfaction with the war; Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld resigns; U.S. death toll in Iraq approaches 3,000.
Nov. 25, 2006: Iraq War has lasted as long as U.S. involvement in World War II.
Source: Information Please Almanac, Pearson Education, infoplease.com.
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