Back To Future In Iraq Ignores A Sorry History

If Gen. David Petraeus can't stabilize Iraq by autumn — or if Americans decide to pull out of Iraq before he gets a fair chance — expect worse chaos to follow.

We will see ethnic cleansing, mass murder of Iraqi reformers, Kurdistan threatened, Turkish-, Iranian- and Wahhabi-controlled rump states, and al-Qaida emboldened as American military prestige is ruined.

Past presidents and statesmen as diverse as Madeleine Albright, James Baker, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Brent Scowcroft have weighed in with various remedies to our supposed blunders in the Middle East since Sept. 11.

Apparently, Americans are supposed to forget these supposedly brilliant strategists' dismal records of dealing with Middle East terrorism, Islamic radicalism and murderous dictators. However, their three decades of bipartisan failure helped bring us to the present post-9/11 world.

So before the U.S. abandons its present policies in Iraq and Afghanistan, we should at least recall the past record — which may be best summed up as the ying of Democratic appeasement and the yang of Republican cynicism.

Reagan was focused on taking the Soviet Union down. That evil empire had to go.

James Baker was part of Reagan's administration, today the Baker Institute at Rice University was/is funded by the Saudis'. We are in Iraq today...due to the crappy advise given to our 41st President...by Baker and Powell and others. Saddamn should have been taken out in the first Gulf War...

Excellent Editorial!!!

I don’t buy it. Iraq has regained much of its strength, and its enemies have lost much of theirs.

Still, the biggest internal threat is of a Civil War with the Sunnis. But because they are only 10% of the population, and falling, this will be short lived, resulting in some religious cleansing as enough of the Sunnis are pushed out so that the Civil War collapses.

Iraq is threatened by Iran and to a less extent by Syria, and while they might invade, with the training and equipment the US has provided to Iraq, it could make such an invasion costly beyond belief. It would be much like a repeat of the Iran Iraq War, a bloody stalemate.

And once the US returns military control of Iraq to the Iraqis, and we stay out of their hair, they will not have such a liberal attitude to dealing with insurgents or al-Qaeda. And that works to their favor as well.

A big question mark is how well the Peshmurga can defend Kirkuk from the Turks, if need be. I doubt the Kurds will be so easily pushed aside this time.

Overall, Iraq is no longer a fragile place. Certainly it would be better if we can help strengthen them further, but I would not expect chaos in the short run.

Ironically, it is the rest of the region that would probably suffer far more if the US left prematurely.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.