Military Commanders Are in Agreement That There is No Military Solution to the Iraq War

This week the House will have a chance to move the Iraq war in a new direction---one that holds the Iraqi government accountable for meeting benchmarks that it already promised it could make.

In contrast, the President's only answer is an open-ended commitment to what even his own Pentagon now admits is a civil war. Military leaders across the board have already told the president that there is no military solution to this war, and yet to continues with the status quo.

Lt. General Peter Chiarelli said in December: "The proper political pieces must be in place in order for any of the military, economic or social initiatives to take hold and flourish." Lt. General Raymond Odierno said: "It's clear you cannot solve this problem militarily." And just last month, Major General Paul Eaton: "Time and again, they've shown a tendency to focus almost exclusively on military solutions to problems without leveraging the full economic, political and diplomatic solutions to problems."

These military leaders are correct----Iraqis must step forward and make critical political reforms if they really want to begin to stem the violence. Unlike the President, Democrats will finally demand some accountability from the Iraqi government this week.