Wesley Clark has an interesting column in yesterday’s Washington Post: Before It’s Too Late in Iraq. It’s good food for thought, and it’s refreshing to see someone on our side offering a concrete plan for Iraq.
President Bush and his team are repeating the failure of Vietnam: failing to craft a realistic and effective policy and instead simply demanding that the American people show resolve. Resolve isn’t enough to mend a flawed approach — or to save the lives of our troops. If the administration won’t adopt a winning strategy, then the American people will be justified in demanding that it bring our troops home.
Clark sums up his strategy by writing, “we will have to be the catalyst for regional cooperation, not regional conflict”. To this end, he proposes a three-part strategy for Iraq.
Diplomatic strategy
- The US “should form a standing conference of Iraq’s neighbors, complete with committees dealing with all the regional economic and political issues, including trade, travel, cross-border infrastructure projects and, of course, cutting off the infiltration of jihadists.”
- The US must stop being the voice of belligerence in the region and start listening to other players on the Middle Eastern stage.
- The US should make clear that it will not build permanent military bases in Iraq.
Political strategy
- The timeline for a Constitution not as important as allowing the Iraqis to create a constitution that works for them — with American assistance in making some of the difficult comprises that will be necessary.
- The Iraqi governmental infrastructure needs to be rebuilt, but US assistance should be predicated on a “legal mandate” from the Iraqi government.
Military Strategy
- “[T]he vast effort underway to train an army must be matched by efforts to train police and local justices.”
- Military efforts should focus not on killing insurgents, but should include hearts and minds strategies to build trust with the people, including “civic action, small-scale economic development and positive daily interactions.”
- Recruitment of 10,000 Arab-Americans to serve as interpreters.
- “A better effort must be made to control jihadist infiltration into the country by a combination of outposts, patrols and reaction forces reinforced by high technology.”
- “Over time U.S. forces should be pulled back into reserve roles and phased out.”
I don’t necessarily agree with all of this. I’ve long been torn between “get out NOW” and “we’ve got to fix this”. Unfortunately, I think the time for his suggestions to work might be past. Clearly, the current Administration can’t even articulate a coherent policy for Iraq, let alone actually implement one. Given their utter failure so far I’m sure they would bungle a plan as sensible and relatively straightforward as the one Clark provides.