Wednesday, July 14, 2004

Project on Defense Alternatives

Despite a new government line-up in Iraq and a supportive UN resolution, the Bush administration plan still will not bring peace or stability to Iraq. Nor will it lead to a timely and orderly withdrawal of US forces. Senator John Kerry's approach falls short as well. Neither addresses the root cause of America's postwar troubles in Iraq, which is the adoption of mission objectives that are overly ambitious and polarizing.

A practicable postwar mission would have sought, in addition to undertaking humanitarian and reconstruction tasks, to establish some essential guarantees related to concerns about Iraqi militarism, human rights abuses, postwar stability, and representative governance. The objectives of the Bush plan far exceed these goals (which are daunting enough).

In practice, the US mission has sought not only to repair and selectively reform Iraq, but to virtually reinvent it -- economically, socially, and politically. It also has aimed to substantially decide the future political balance inside Iraq and to establish the country as a reliable ally and base for US operations in the region. These ambitions have made the mission an enemy to too many Iraqis and an affront to too many more.

A rollback in US goals is the first, necessary step toward a practicable postwar mission in Iraq and the timely withdrawal of US troops.


Radical Departure: Toward a Practical Peace in Iraq

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