Dennis Ross' Plan for Iraq

In the last post, I noted that someone had asked THE question about Iraq. Dennis Ross, a former director of policy planning at the State Department, provides part of an answer.

Read his article at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/13/AR2006101301419.html

Ross argues that most of the relevant actors are refusing to confront reality and therfore the poltical process is not working. To start to get it working, Ross thinks three things need to be done.:

1. The national unity conference must be held to adopt the long promised amedments to the constitution that will allay many Sunni concerns.

2. A regional conference of Iraq's neighbors should be held to enlist their support, not in helping the US succeed, but in preventing the chaos which might result from the US failing.

3. A timetable for US withdrawal should be negotiated with the Iraqi to move them towards accepting responsibility for the tasks the US is doing.

Ross makes two comments that really stand out.

"The starting point is to recognize that Iraq is not going to be a democratic, unified country that serves as a model for the region. The violence and the Sunni-Shiite division have already ruled that out. Instead, Iraq could, in the best case, evolve into a country that has the following: a central government with limited powers; provincial governments with extensive autonomy; sharing of oil revenue; and, at the local level, some rough form of representation and tolerance for minorities. In those circumstances Iraq might eventually achieve stability."

He also notes

"No one in Iraq seems to want us there, but everyone is afraid to have us leave. In the meantime, everyone seems willing to sit back, to avoid tackling the tough problems and to let us carry the brunt of the fighting. That has to stop."