Post-War Blueprint Continutes to Unfold
The Washington Post has more details on plans for post-liberation Iraq. Big surprise: it's all perfectly sensible and well thought out. It won't make certain Iraqi dissidents, who were probably expecting to seize the reins of power, very happy at first. But it shows a good deal of foresight and careful consideration. It also addresses many concerns that critics have expressed.
Eminently sensible plan, but no doubt certain anti-war persons will call this a betrayal of the Iraqi people.
Christ on a crutch, what do they want? Instant perfect results?
Never mind. I answered my own question.
This is a trial balloon. You knew that, right?
The administration has been under strong pressure to demonstrate that it has a detailed program to deal with what is expected to be a chaotic and dangerous situation if Hussein is removed.
But don't worry!
The White House plans to brief Congress and reporters on more details of the plan next week.
Oh boy, I can hardly wait for their response. Like it's going to matter.
The good news: if it all happens the way we want, we'll all be better off in a couple of years comapared to now.
Couple of things jump out at me:
THAT is gonna be an interesting pick to watch for.
A shot across Chalabi's bow. He's clearly the guy to watch.
Some 20 to 25 Iraqis would assist U.S. authorities in a U.S.-appointed "consultative council," with no governing responsibility...Undersecretary of State Marc Grossman told Congress last week that it might be two years before the Iraqis regained administrative control of their country.
Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey estimates more like five years.
But here's the confusing part: 20-25 committee members with no authority, no mandate and no official recoginition? Might be a bit of wishful thinking there at the State Department.
No shit, Sherlock.
Deal breakers on the house!
This is excruciating.
Sounds good. NOw if we could just figure out what those other 20-25 guys on the consultative council are doing...
"We don't want the Iranians to be paying the Shiites, the Turks the Turkmen and the Saudis the Sunnis," the official, referring to some of the main groups among dozens of Iraqi tribes and ethnic and religious groups.
A similar anxiety led to the decision to prohibit the Iraqi opposition based outside the country from forming a provisional government.
The chief proponent of that idea, Ahmed Chalabi, head of the Iraqi National Congress, was informed this week that any move to declare a provisional Iraqi government "would result in a formal break in the U.S.-INC relationship," the official said.
Keep an eye on that one, kids....
I have no idea why you should be surprised. Did you really think that they were not giving it any thought? People keep underestimating this administration.
Enh. "Trial balloon" has always struck me as a "we aren't sure what the hell we're going to do, let's see what we can get away with" kind of thing, and I don't see that here. First, because it's pretty consistent with what we've been hearing, and, more importantly, there are only two or three directions they could possibly go anyway.
Chalabi's not the only one this is for. There's entire Iraqi National Congress, the Kurdistan government, and others who may be waiting in the wings. The Bushies are making it clear that they'll have order and the mechanisms of a functional Iraq before they turn the floodgates loose. Which makes perfect sense to me, since trying to have democracy right after an liberation and occupation is a sure recipe for disaster. The Kurds and the Shias and the Iranians and everyone else would be at each other's throats in minutes.
I mean, really, what plan could anyone possibly propose that wouldn't get immediate criticism? It's easy to poke holes in any plan to do anything. What's harder is to propose alternatives.
This all looks good to me. But sure, some things will change as we go. Big shock, eh?
I have spent much of a long lifetime reading about government talking heads counting chickens before the eggs were hatched. Especially after I was called to active duty from the reserve unit I joined right after high school in 1952, just in time for the tail end of the Korean War.
I'm sure things will work out. The United States versus Iraq is like the New York Yankees taking on the Sandlot Bean-Baggers, or somesuch.
But anybody who thinks wars are so damned predictable should consult with the ghost of Field Marshal Count Helmut von Moltke, who was going to break the French Army and take Paris in 39 days in 1914. Or Andre Maginot, the French Minister of Defense who built the interconnected line of underground defense fortresses named after him that was going to stop the new panzer divisions of the German Army backed up by the Stuka dive bombers of the Luftwaffe of 1940.
Paul Wolfowitz appeared on Fox News last evening repeating that the Bush administration’s goal is to liberate Iraq, not occupy it. He repeated yet again that Iraq’s oil belongs to the Iraqi people; and that Iraqis should continue controlling it. Unfortunately, the “It’s all about the oil” argument repeated by Democrats who insist on complaining about anything will drown this out. I guess they have to say something, even if it’s not much.
I sincerely wish that our liberal media publicly admit the TWO parties in the United Nations who actually have strong oil interests in this Iraq war scenario: France and Russia. Hopefully, everybody understands why not trusting our mighty media manure machine is warranted.