So many times I have been taken to task for accusing the US of botching the situation in Iraq and creating far more hardship than was there before the invasion, or right after the fall of Saddam.
Today I will simply point at Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island.
He said insurgents “pretty much” control Mosul and large parts of Baghdad, as well as the 10-mile stretch of road from the airport into the capital.
“If with 100,000-plus troops over there, we can’t control that 10-mile road, it shows what’s happening politically,” the senator said. “The people are not as friendly as they were a year ago towards Americans.”
And that, my friends, is why I think the American operation, as it stands now, is doomed to failure. For Iraq to emerge a stable, secure, and hopefully democratic nation… the Americans need to bring in fresh [blood] ideas. The military forces in Iraq are now perceived not as liberators, but as occupiers… the only way to reverse that is for the occupying forces (the US) to relinquish control and hand it to a body that can have no future agenda in the country.
The UN or NATO must be brought in with a clear mandate to restore security, THEN GET OUT.
And by GET OUT, I mean dismantle or hand to Iraqi forces, all military bases and complexes unless specifically asked not to by the Iraqi government. All consulting and contracting firms hired/tendored by the US or Coalition must also be expelled, unless specifically under contract with the newly elected Iraqi people.
In short… it must be seen, without question, that Iraqis are governing Iraqis and that they are in control of who and what goes in their country.
As an aside, I was off looking for an “official” list of NGOs that are still, if any, in Iraq (Apparently CARE – Australia left not too long ago). During my exploration I came upon the original CPA website:
http://www.iraqcoalition.org/
I really love this quote on the front page:
Current information for the new sovereign Iraq may be found on the U.S. Embassy-Iraq Web site at:
http://iraq.usembassy.gov/
or
http://baghdad.usembassy.gov/
Please update your bookmarks.
Need I ask the obvious question?