Category: Iraq

Iraq: Patience and Policy

The Bush Paradox (New York Times)…David Brooks, June 24, 2008 Pg. 23

Let’s go back and consider how the world looked in the winter of 2006-2007. Iraq was in free fall, with horrific massacres and ethnic cleansing that sent a steady stream of bad news across the world media. The American public delivered a stunning electoral judgment against the Iraq war, the Republican Party and President Bush.

… More than a year on, the surge has produced large, if tenuous, gains. Violence is down sharply. Daily life has improved. Iraqi security forces have been given time to become a more effective fighting force. The Iraqi government is showing signs of strength and even glimmers of impartiality. Iraq has moved from being a failed state to, as Vali Nasr of the Council on Foreign Relations has put it, merely a fragile one.

The whole episode is a reminder that history is a complicated thing. The traits that lead to disaster in certain circumstances are the very ones that come in handy in others. The people who seem so smart at some moments seem incredibly foolish in others.

Iraq: Oil Production

In Iraq’s Oil Fields, Signs Of Hope Finally Are Emerging
(USA Today)…Charles Levinson

…This month, the Iraqi government expects 10 major foreign oil companies — including ExxonMobil, Shell and Chevron — to sign modest contracts that could be a first step toward bigger investments.

Iraq: Future Relationship

A Partnership With Iraq, (Washington Post)…Editorial, June 15, 2008 Pg. B6

The Shiite government signals a desire for an alliance with the United States. Shouldn’t that be welcomed?

Mr. Maliki refused. He assured his Iranian hosts that Iraq would not be a launching pad for an American attack on Iran. But he pointedly told a press briefing that negotiations on the strategic partnership would continue. He repeated that commitment on Friday, even after warning that the talks had "reached a dead end."

In effect, the Iraqi prime minister was saying that his country does not want to become an Iranian satellite but an independent Arab state that would look to the United States to ensure its security.

Iraq: Future Options

The Right Iraq Footprint, (Washington Post)…David Ignatius, June 19, 2008, Pg. 19

“Don’t be afraid of Iraqi sovereignty,” Gen. John Abizaid used to say when he was Centcom commander. And that’s good advice now as Iraqis and Americans think about the new “status of forces” agreement that will shape the country next year when the Bush administration is gone.

The right formula, says Kilcullen, is: “Overt De-Escalation; Covert Disruption.” Indeed, our future Iraq presence may look more like covert action than traditional warfare. We’ve made a lot of friends among tribal leaders in the past several years, as the United States finally began to learn the tools of counterinsurgency. Those relationships will be important in the next phase.

Lt. Col. David Kilcullen, a retired Australian army officer and an expert in counterinsurgency. He was a key member of the team that drafted Gen. David Petraeus’s Iraq campaign plan.

Iraq: Three realities

Iraq: Still Inscrutable, (New York Times)…Thomas L. Friedman, June 18, 2008

…Iraq has become one of those subjects that so many people now come to with so much emotional scar tissue that it is very hard to have a sober discussion about the actual situation there today. So much is colored by how you feel about George Bush or whether you were for or against the war. As a result, what we do next in Iraq — how and why — is barely getting discussed in the presidential campaign.

…  three conflicting political realities … The first is the mood of the American public …  the second is the reality on the ground in Iraq, which is no longer an unremitting horror story …. The third reality, though, is the fact that the reconciliation process inside Iraq … still has not reached a point where Iraq’s stability is self-sustaining.

“When it comes to Iraq, most Americans really want to leave, but they still don’t want to lose”

Iraq: Future Forces

Parties Do Battle Over U.S. Forces’ Future In Iraq
(Washington Post)…Jonathan Weisman, June 12, 2008
Pg. 6

Congressional Democrats yesterday opened fire on comments from Republicans — including presumptive GOP nominee John McCain — that equate the U.S. military’s future in Iraq to the presence of U.S. bases in Germany, Japan and South Korea.

"It’s pretty clear their intentions are that we put in a basing system in Iraq that parallels the Korea-Japan history," said Sen. James Webb (D-Va.), who is pressing the administration to submit the agreements for Senate ratification.

"The difference is, Iraq is not Korea or Japan. . . . The history of every single outside occupation of Iraq over the last thousand years argues against that logic."