Salvage Operation

Before the beginning: Certainly the Iraqis aren't looking forward to having him back for more milk and cookies. So given the history, don't you think maybe it would be better for all parties if he did this job from that closet under the stairs that everyone told him was Dick Cheney's bomb shelter? As long as he had no communications gear (okay - maybe one of those "help I've fallen and I can't get up" things...) I'd be okay with that. Otherwise this is FUBAR.

It occurs to me that there are those who may not be familiar with the term "FUBAR". (Or who thought I was joking.) My apologies to you for using an undefined term. Now that Operation EPIC FAIL has reached its inevitable conclusion, here's a definition.

I. The Victory Tour

When Joe Biden says his prayers tonight, he had best thank his maker for Sarah Palin. If not for her, it's just possible that someone somewhere in America might have noticed what the man who actually was elected Vice President of the United States was doing this weekend. In short: executing what could be one of the most embarrassing (approaching disastrous) diplomatic junkets in this nation's history.

According to the reporting, Biden was charged by President Obama with facilitating the ever-elusive "reconciliation" in Iraq. There are one or two feeble explanations (mostly self-serving) for why this is a good idea. Some are arguably compelling in the absence of deep thought, in a "yeah, sure Joe - you go do that" kind of way. In fact...

A few weeks ago he was talking to the president about the challenges Iraq would face after US troops began to withdraw from Iraqi cities on June 30th and what the US needed to do about it. The president got right the point, Biden said, "Quote: Joe, go do it."

Do what exactly?

"Help the Iraqis resolve what they have to resolve."

You know - go do that voodoo that you do so well... but up against the reality of Iraq today those arguments - drawing strength only from political campaign talking points - crumble.

To cut to the chase - a simple phone-ahead might have avoided this embarrassment,at least: "...the Iraqi government spokesman publicly rejected the American's offer to help with national reconciliation, saying it's an internal affair."

Ouch - kind of an "oh Shiite" moment there. And now (for balance) a word from the Sunni minority:

"The reconciliation issue ... should be activated by Iraqis themselves not by others' recommendations," said Abdul-Kareem al-Samarrai, head of parliament's Accordance Front Sunni bloc.

And double ouch. In fact, the phone ahead could have gone to Chris Hill - the US Ambassador to Iraq, whose job it is to represent the interests of the U.S.A... but you get the picture.

According to ABC TeeVee's George Stephanopoulos, (whose participation as "reporter" in this venture would have done nothing to reduce accusations of ABC as administration PR firm had anyone been following the story), Hill was not present to greet the VP when he arrived on his "historic" visit. (Bad weather might explain that, a good reporter definitely would.) But after finally meeting with Hill and U.S. forces commanding general Ray Odierno Biden declared their reports "were more optimistic than he expected".

But ask anyone who knows and they'll hasten to tell you the reasons for that"optimism" are fragile; there's a delicate balance currently in place - some might describe Iraq as a ticking time bomb, liable to go off at the slightest provocation.

For example:

Protesters burned a U.S. flag in Sadr City, a crowded Baghdad slum, and chanted, "No, no for occupation! No, no for America!"

One of them, Mohammed Kathem, 40, an administrator, said many of the protesters hit the streets after an imam encouraged them to do so at Friday prayers.

"Biden's visit sent the signal to us that Iraq will be divided," he said. "Biden's background doesn't allow him to play any role in reconciliation."

After Friday prayers, hundreds and possibly thousands of residents of Sadr City chanted "down, down USA" and burned U.S. flags in protest against Biden's visit. A smaller demonstration also took place in Kerbala, in the Shi'ite south.

Biden helped author a 2006 plan to split Iraq into self-ruled Sunni, Shi'ite and Kurdish enclaves. That plan angered many Iraqis, and was quietly shelved as violence ebbed.

"Biden has come here to divide Iraq according to his plan," said a message from Sadr read out by one Imam in a mosque.

Now long-time media darling Mookie Sadr has been "studying in Iran" for some time now, having lost a tremendous amount of prestige over the past couple years as U.S. and Iraqi forces battled his militias (among others) in the streets of Baghdad, Basra, and elsewhere. He's gone but not completely forgotten, and the U.S. could have given him no greater opportunity for redemption than the gift of Joe Biden as point man in Baghdad. Roll video to see why this is so...

The full version can be found through this link.

That's from April, 2007 - with only two of "the surge" brigades in action. For those without video capability, a few quick quotes -

On any progress as a result of the surge: "Nothing based on the briefings I've gotten - nothing I've seen would lead me to believe that"

On a strong, central, democratic Iraqi government: "Not possible". (Failed - break it up into three...)

On General Petraeus claim that "things are moving in the right direction", his need for more time, and his statement that it's "too early to judge the surge": "He's wrong. If you notice, virtually no one agrees with him. Virtually no one agrees with him. For every one person in the military you can show me who agrees with him I can name you five who disagree, who are equally competent as General Petraeus."

On U.S. strategy: "This strategy is doomed to failure, even if it helps to stabilize [Iraq] - and by the way, it will not stabilize it."

That's what's called being on the wrong side of history - and it's not the only example for Joe Biden. Muqtada Sadr is on the wrong side of history too - he certainly wouldn't have provided a counterpoint to Joe's claims back in '07 (oddly their political fortunes have since taken divergent paths) so it would be far beyond ironic to see Sadr take advantage of this rather ill-conceived move on the part of the current administration to launch a comeback tour.

Iraq isn't over, there are issues to resolve - but as a wise man once said, it's 20% military and 80% political. The twenty percent has been fairly well under control since late 2007, but the "political side" will be eternal. Whatever direction that may take is up to the Iraqis themselves - that's what self-determination is all about, and no amount of self-inflicted confusion of the terms "reaching goals" and "progress towards goals" will validate American "guidance" (or direction) of that progress. At this point there would more likely be an inverse relationship between overt, highly publicized "political assistance" from America and "political progress" in Iraq - that's all too predictable, as were all the results of the Vice President's visit to his little brown buddies.

Regardless, credit Biden for bringing this message to those in Iraq who would work together for national unity - we're with you: "he said he came with a message of continuing support for the country even as the U.S. military pulls back." In fact, "The enemies of Iraq want to again reignite sectarian violence ... They will fail," Biden said. Though he had another firm message for those enemies who would use violence to undo the gains of the past several years: "Vice President Biden warned Iraqi officials Friday that the American commitment to Iraq could end if the country again descended into ethnic and sectarian violence."

Small wonder that by the Fourth of July, Biden found himself sheepishly apologizing for his "patriotism" to hundreds of American troops gathered in Baghdad for a naturalization ceremony.

II. Salvage Operation

And here's where the real "salvage operation" begins.

Credit the bevy of reporters dispatched to "cover" the Vice President's mission for finding ways to report "the good news" from Iraq even as that mission unraveled. McClatchy should earn special commendation from the White House for this headline describing the range (from flag burning to more polite contempt) of Iraqi responses to Joe Biden: "Biden's Iraq visit draws mixed reaction".

But at the forefront, ABC's George Stephanopolous demonstrated repeatedly why Oval Office public relations efforts are best left to the pros. An early report that Odierno and Hill had somehow caught the Veep off guard by explaining the current state of affairs in Iraq as good was headlined "Biden Visits With His Son in Iraq". ABC's Good Morning America host Elizabeth Vargas gave the perfect setup for the report ("Vice President Biden has enormous credibility on Iraq"...) that emphasized the importance of the endeavor before quickly shifting to the Democratic Party talking points on veterans' issues that Biden claims his son delivered over breakfast. (All good points, by the way. But when will we see some action beyond talking? What will that action be?)

And by the end of the unprecedented, record-setting three day visit, Stephanopoulos would offer an exclusive interview with President Obama's Number Two in which Biden used the phrase "securing victory" in describing Iraq (STEPHANOPOULOS: You know, your predecessor doesn't seem convinced. [LAUGHTER]), denied that the Iraqis had rejected his "help" ("that's not what the prime minister said. The prime minister said that we may need you to get involved"), and dodged a question on whether the U.S. would withdraw all troops in accordance with established timetables ("That is the intention").

But from there the salvage operation collapsed, as the reality of the visit denied any hope for in-depth reporting on that topic. But requirements to fill the allotted time mandated that for the bulk of the discussion Joe had to unleash his enormous credibility on things that aren't Iraq. Many of his resulting statements did get some notice, and all of them define (like it or not) America's leadership position in the world today.

Iranian elections: "we have to acknowledge as a free and sovereign nation that we abhor the violence that took place. We think it was inappropriate, the way in which they treated those protesters."

Iranian Nukes: "As I said to you, we have to wait to see how this sort of settles out."

Potential Israeli responses to Iranian nukes:"Israel can determine for itself -- it's a sovereign nation -- what's in their interest and what they decide to do relative to Iran and anyone else." (Side note: that "sovereign nation" quote sounds somehow familiar...)

North Korea: BIDEN: "The question is, is there anything that we should do about it? Some of it seems like almost attention-seeking behavior... STEPHANOPOULOS: And you don't want to give the attention? BIDEN: And -- no, I don't want to give the attention."

Congressional threats to cut funding for Afghanistan: STEPHANOPOULOS: The clock is also ticking on Afghanistan... BIDEN: "All the troops we agreed to increase are not even all in place at this point." (Yes - go back and review the 2007 comments on Iraq...)

The economy: "The truth is, we and everyone else misread the economy"... "And so the truth is, there was a misreading of just how bad an economy we inherited."

Sarah Palin: "No. I respect her decision. I don't -- I don't know what prompted her decision to not only not run again and also to step down as a consequence of the decision not to run in 2010. And I take her at her word that had a personal ingredient in it. And you have to respect that."

Hey - if he's not willing to thank her, then at least - as noted at the outset - when he hits his knees tonight he should give thanks for her - she's ensured that no one in America will ever know the full story of Joe's journey to Iraq.

Hopefully it will soon be forgotten there, too. Here in America someone should make a movie version of it - the sub-plot possibilities alone are endless. I'm not sure if it's comedy or tragedy, though. I suppose eventually we'll find out.

Next: Michael Jackson is still... oh look! It's Sarah Palin!