Gary Nolan's
Campaign Blog  

Iraq – the way out

George Bush is pursuing a “limbo” strategy for Iraq: grant so-called “sovereignty” to Iraq while leaving US troops there indefinitely. John Kerry advocates virtually the same strategy, except that he would have our troops serving under the UN flag. Either way, US soldiers remain in Iraq indefinitely, feeding the “anti-Muslim” image of the US, and making it easier for Al-Qaida to recruit more terrorists.

There is a way to bring our troops home much sooner, without plunging Iraq into chaos. We can look at what is happening in the Shia province of Dhi Qar, just a few miles southeast of Baghdad. 16 of the largest 20 cities and many smaller towns will have elected councils by June. These were the first free elections in Dhi Qar's history and in almost every case, secular independents and representatives of nonreligious parties did better than the Islamists.

That policy of ad hoc, incremental, rolling devolution needs to be accelerated. Towns and provinces should be given as much sovereignty as possible, as rapidly as possible, on the obvious principle that the constituent parts of ramshackle federations rarely progress at the same pace.

Let’s turn Iraq over to the Iraqi people, town-by-town, province-by-province, and let them decide how to govern themselves. Then we can bring our troops home instead of leaving them trapped in the limbo of indefinite occupation.

- Posted by Gary @ 9:16 AM  |