There is no Win in Iraq

I wrote the following bits the day after the election, but time has past since then. I am hearing some hopeful ideas that are close to what I propose below, but also a tendency to want more troops and "Win" in Iraq. There never was a win in Iraq and the sooner that the American people understand that, the quicker we can stop the bloodshed.

Failure of the Democrats

The change of power has not very mush to do with any credibility that the Democrats may have. In fact, the Democrats have shown consistent inability to do more than wait until the Republicans to falter. That lack of any real plan to lead places an expiration date upon their ability to establish a sense of comfort with the independent middle which elects people to office.

Understanding the New World Order

There is a new world order that is taking shape. It does not preclude influence by the United States, but it limits how that influence can be exercised. The old solutions are not viable any more and it will take strong leadership to help the American people to understand that and to accept the coming changes. Communications and Transportation have made it more practical to utilize resources where they exist rather than moving resources to industrial locations. As a result the U. S will be in heavy competition not only in Labor but manufacturing as well. While a rise in minimum wage may be a short term fix, it does not address the larger issue that our labor and production costs are too high on terms of the rest of the world.

That is a complex set of changes ahead that includes bring our life style in line with the realities of sharing the worlds resources with the rest of the world in a more equitable way.

Iraq

It is still untenable for Americans to acknowledge that there is no win to be had in Iraq. We have a narrow window opening in January to make hard decisions in Iraq, after that the Tar Baby that Iraq has become will no longer be just Bush'’s but the DemocratÂ’s as well.

I believe that the following plan is at a good foundation from which to build a solution to the Iraq mess.

First the US has to cede the lead role in Iraq to the international community. The UN must take the lead with the assistance of NATO, where the US still has some major influence and the only organized multinational force that is capable of providing the peace keeping required to move Iraq from the unstable status it has had since its creation.

Once a multinational force has been created and replaced the US forces in Iraq, the country needs to be partitioned into Sunni, Shiite, and Kurd sectors. Then the people of each section can decide where they future lies. The fanciful idea that outside forces can control the future of a sovereign nation by force or manipulation should be put to rest along side the graves of brave men and women that have died attempting to establish and maintain such control. The Sunnis are more naturally aligned with Syria, and Jordan. The Shiites are more aligned with Iran. The Kurds have sought continuously to establish Sovereignty. IT will take time to allow each of these roups to determine if each will be sovereign or incorporate with adjoining countries. It seems that it would be useful to have One Iraq become three sovereign countries.

The US should withdraw or draw down the number of troops in Iraq as soon as the framework for a multinational force has been established. Then the long destructive occupation of Iraq can end and the US can move on to figuring out how it can constructively engage the new realities of the 21st Century.