Author and evangelical Democrat Tony Campolo has written a really helpful article for Sojourners Magazine, The Sad Truth About the Surge.
It's a short and simple explanation suitable for forwarding to Republicans who claim the surge was an unqualified success.
Campolo is founder of the Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education (EAPE) and professor emeritus of sociology at Eastern University.
In the article he writes:
In a recent conversation I had about the coming election, a friend reiterated the campaign rhetoric that the "surge" in Iraq has worked, and that Barack Obama ought to admit that John McCain was right in advocating the surge long before President Bush made it a reality. Because I wasn’t so sure that the surge deserved such lauding, I did some research, and what I found was very disturbing. Yes! The violence has de-escalated, just as my friend had pointed out, but the reasons I discovered as to why it has de-escalated have caused me much consternation.
Campolo cites four reasons why violence in Iraq is down. Violence has declined around Basra because "radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is now firmly in control."
In Anbar Province, Sunni-Shiite violence has declined, not because of the surge, but because most Shiites have fled the country. A million of them are living in Jordan in extreme poverty.
This third reason is well worth quoting:
Another reason that the violence in Anbar Province has declined is because, according to The Times of London, America is bribing the insurgents not to fight. Paul Craig Roberts, the assistant secretary of the Treasury during the Reagan administration and a former associate editor of The Wall Street Journal, reports that the Bush administration is paying $800,000 a day for Sunni insurgents not to attack U.S. forces. This is outrageous, especially given what’s happening to the U.S. economy.
Campolo also discusses the severe persecution of Christians who, under Hussein's regime, had been able to live relatively peaceful lives.
Campolo concludes: ..........
Violence is down in Iraq, but I’m not so sure that the surge deserves the major credit for this, nor am I convinced that the results of what has transpired in Iraq over the past year are anything to cheer about. In addition to the horrendous loss of lives, which should be our primary concern, there is the matter of our military presence in Iraq costing the American taxpayers $250,000 a minute, and this at a time when we’re facing a financial crisis. It’s time that some truth-telling is done, not only about the surge, but concerning what’s really happening over there in Iraq.
Campolo made an appearance on the Colbert Report on February 4, 2008:
Christians like Campolo are powerful reminders that not all Christians hold flaky fundy views!