E-Paper
Turn, turn, turn
As much as Mr Bush, under political and public pressure, may want to 'get outta Iraq' immediately, he cannot.
A pirouette in ballet is a wonderful thing to behold. The United States-led occupation of Iraq, even when portrayed as a mission to bring stability and democracy in a ravaged region, is certainly no Swan Lake. So when the high-level commission on the war in Iraq stated on Wednesday that the “situation in Iraq is grave, dangerous and is deteriorating,” one should understand that it is extremely unlikely that the Bush administration will take this view as gospel even though it is an indictment on US policy in Iraq. Nonetheless, President George W Bush has stated that he will treat each proposal made by the senior, bi-partisan, 10-member committee “seriously” and act on the observations and suggestions made in a “timely fashion”. The President is simply maintaining propriety.
The report, titled ‘The Way Forward’, is not binding on the Bush administration. Some of the suggestions made by the likes of the panel headed by former Secretary of State, James Baker, a Republican, point to a volte face of the current Iraq policy. The commission, for instance, suggests the withdrawal of all combat brigades “not necessary for force protection” out of Iraq by the first quarter of 2008. As much as Mr Bush, under political and public pressure, may want to “get outta Iraq” immediately, he cannot, considering the mandate he himself had set for the American forces at the onset of the ‘regime change’. The Iraq panel has also suggested that Washington reach out to its ‘antagonists’, Iran and Syria — not so much to eat geo-political humble pie, but to engage with the countries that wield the biggest influence in West Asia in general and in Iraq in particular. There are signs of a Washington-Damascus corridor being installed already. A Washington-Tehran channel would mean much more radical re-wiring from both sides.
So that he is not seen as turning a pirouette, Mr Bush has replaced Donald Rumsfeld with Robert Gates as the Defence Secretary. Mr Gates is under no illusion why he has been chosen. It is not about an American ‘victory’ in Iraq anymore; it is about finding a solution.
