Leveraging Progress In Iraq
There is, however, one point on which leaders of the three main groups in Iraq agree: None of the Iraqi groups wants U.S. troops to leave precipitately. The Shiites want us to stay until Iraqi security forces are strong enough to deal with the insurgency on their own. The Kurds want us to remain for the impending future. And the Sunni Arab leaders want us to stay as a deterrent to those who might seek revenge against them for the actions of Saddam Hussein.
We must use that leverage — the possibility of an American withdrawal — to achieve the broad-based political settlement that is essential for defeating the insurgency. . . .
The administration has been sending the opposite messages with repeated statements that we will stay in Iraq as long as we are needed. We should not mislead the Iraqis into thinking they have unlimited time to reach a settlement. As long as they think that way, they are less likely to make the necessary compromises.
That makes sense to me, though I’d note that it is a fine line to walk. We do want to stay in Iraq until the new government can fend for itself. So while we can leverage our military’s impending departure from that country we should also be careful as to not leave prematurely.
Tags: War On Terror
