Get Real

17 November 2003


Iraqi Sovereignty Hinges on Iraqi Power

Last week saw George Bush making moves to put Iraqis in charge of Iraq sooner rather than later. He summoned America's proconsul in Iraq, Paul Bremer, to Washington to "consult" with the President on speeding up the hand over. France's foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, was even conciliatory (sort of) saying, "Our hand is held out to our American friends because the challenge affects us all. The security of the world is at stake." Not so fast, gentlemen.

There can be no doubt that the entire unpleasantness current on display in Iraq must end with a government of free Iraqis, by free Iraqis, for free Iraqis. How the world gets there after a quarter of a century of Saddam Hussein (the one man with the one vote) is still a matter of debate. However, there is no way it can happen until Iraqis are in a position to enforce with state sanctioned violence their government and their laws. With 150,000 US troops in the country plus those of its allies, Iraq doesn't have that capacity.

The Bush administration's nerve is weakening though, and Foreign Minister de Villepin summed it up, "How many deaths does it take to understand that it is essential to change the approach?" Since combat operations ended on May 1, 2003, the number of dead US patriots in Iraq is 257, Mr. Villepin. That seems to be the number (plus Brits, Poles and Italians). Hence the rush to give Iraqis the responsibility for their own country's governance.

However, until there is an Iraqi army loyal to a free Iraqi regime, the liberator/occupiers must stay. Their departure any earlier would create a power vacuum that would destabilize whatever regime is left in Baghdad. And in that case, what Iraqi would be given power to isse orders that would be backed by US and allied steel -- that is, be given de facto command of coalition troops? No such Iraqi exists.

And so, the policy of hurrying Iraqi sovereignty along gets hung up on the barbed wire of reality -- sovereignty is the ability to govern, and that comes out of the barrel of a gun. And those guns are not Iraqi. Far better to slow down, admit that the occupation is going to cost lives (which is why this journal opposed starting with too few troops for a successful occupation in the first place), and get the job done right. If may take years, but then, the President has said America will stay until the job is done. He'd best keep his word.

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