Bush's new plan for Iraq draws support, criticism

Published: 2007-01-11

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A Catholic Army chaplain who was stationed in Iraq and a Christian Iraqi-American military adviser said they stand behind U.S. President George W. Bush's most recent plan to send more troops to Iraq. But three international policy experts contacted by Catholic News Service sharply criticized the plan and questioned whether it can succeed. "If this is what the leaders are asking for, then that's what they need," said Father Brian Kane, who served as an Army chaplain for the 67th Area Support Group at Al Asad Airfield, in the Iraqi Al Anbar region. Pauline Jasim, a military bilingual and bicultural adviser in Baghdad, Iraq, said it was "about time Washington realized the (number of) troops were never enough, and more troops are needed in Baghdad." Jesuit Father Drew Christiansen, editor of the national Catholic magazine America and director of the U.S. bishops' Office of International Justice and Peace 1991-98, said the plan "seems to me too light on the troops" to achieve the goal of sufficient security for a transition to Iraqi control. More importantly, "it ignores the diplomatic elements altogether," he said. Maryann Cusimano Love, a professor of politics at The Catholic University of America, Washington, and an expert on terrorism, said Jan. 11: "This is primarily a political battle about winning hearts and minds. And the military measures that he presented last night don't do anything to address the underlying problems in Iraq and, I'm afraid, are unlikely to succeed." Gerard F. Powers, director of policy studies at the University of Notre Dame's Kroc Institute for Peace and head of the bishops' Office of International Justice and Peace 1998-2004, said there "are some positive proposals" in the Bush plan and "the stated goal is the right one -- a united, stable, nonsectarian government." But he said the "modest increase in troops" announced by Bush is another case of "willing the ends but not the means."

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