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Friday, October 27, 2006 - 12:00am Three Part Solution to Solve the Problem in Iraq It's really a shame that we cannot have an honest debate in this country about what to do in Iraq. If you cut through the politics, you realize that both the left and the right have legitimate arguments about Iraq and both sides are interested in protecting the lives of Americans and American soldiers. They simply have different ways of wanting to solve the problem. Conservatives believe we need to stay or Iraq will be much worse in years to come. Liberals, in general, want to leave now to prevent the deaths of soldiers and civilians.
There is a way to win in Iraq, but I'm afraid it will never come to pass. The administration continues to make mistake after mistake and is more interested in winning elections than fixing their mess. Creating a stable Iraq is not difficult, but it does requires making difficult decisions that are not popular politically.
The first requirement in stabilizing Iraq is more troops. Nobody wants to hear that, but it is clear that additional troops are needed to hold down areas. American troops have relatively little trouble securing a particular neighborhood and quelling the violence for a period of time, but they are never able to stay. They are forced to move to another neighborhood to secure the peace and the one they leave becomes violent again. It is a continuous circle that exists because of too few troops.
The second requirement is the training of Iraqi troops in other countries. Many nations have offered their help to train Iraqi police and soldiers, but the administration has refused. In nearly four years in Iraq, the U.S. has trained very few Iraqi military personnel. By accepting help, these men will be trained quicker. Training these guys outside Iraq will also prevent them from getting killed. In addition, coalition forces could better weed out any insurgents among them.
The third need is to separate the country into three sovereign nations. If centuries of warfare has taught us anything, it is that people of different religious and ethnic backgrounds do not get along overnight. The Sunnis, Shia, and Kurds should all have their own country. They will continue to kill each other if they are not separated. They also would be much more willing to fight for a country that is truly their own.
This will work, but it will not be done. The administration will not add a significant number of troops because it is politically damaging. For some reason, they also have not allowed other countries to help. The third part about splitting the nation into three may eventually happen, but they are not ready to come around to that notion.
Whatever changes in strategy they make in Iraq, it won't be done until after the elections. Power and holding onto power is far more important to them than the lives of American soldiers.
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The unfortunate reality is that Iraq will become a larger version of the
pre-9/11 Afghanistan if our forces leave now. I firmly believe
Bush should be impeached for getting us into this mess and having no
clue how to solve it, but we need to stay. If the military leaves,
there will be complete and total anarchy in Iraq. Terrorists, who
were not in Iraq before, would be able to operate and thrive in a
lawless nation.