Iraq: What to Do/

While few disagree with the perception that the intervention in Iraq resulted in a disaster, there is confusion about what to do now. Some see the surge in military power as hope for success or stability. Others who are convinced of ultimate failure want US military personnel removed from combat sooner or later. Most sense utter chaos without military support, yet the military is itself a source of conflict. A political solution is called for, but there is scant evidence that the Iraqis can pierce their interpersonal antagonism.

In most discussions, the focus centers on the current status of the disaster. We tend to avoid assigning responsibility for the Iraq disaster to the United States. The United States made many decisions that impacted negatively the Iraqi people: supporting Hussein with arms, including chemical weapons, in the Iran-Iraq war; sanctions against Iraq that resulted in depleting the human resources of the nation, e.g., health and education, with minimal impact on Hussein; starting the Iraq conflict without international concurrence and on dishonest premises; rushing to destroy Hussein without plans for stabilizing the society, and on and on.

Without assuming responsibility for the disaster, the rhetoric of those trying to minimize further catastrophe, especially to our troops, is prone to dishonesty. We have created a situation that is akin to Dante’s inferno! And we then want to walk away! The editorial in the National Catholic Reporter critiques the language of Democrats trying to leave the burden of stabilizing the nation to the Iraqis, even if they lack the means (we are afraid of supplying appropriate weapons and equipment because they may be used against us) and the capacity to compromise.

Few seem to agree with my strategy, but it seems honest and, minimally, offers other nations a chance to reconsider the Iraq disaster independently of their negative attitudes toward the United States, viz., admit openly our ownership of the disaster and then ask the international community and the nations most intimately vested in the outcome of the region, to initiate a new strategy with new leadership, albeit with US cooperation. We need help to rectify the damage we created. We cannot walk away, but we cannot resolve the situation without help. And we will not get help unless we own up to what we did.