New Report on Iraq

[SWCAdmin]

http://analysis.threatswatch.org/200...ctory-in-iraq/

From Threatswatch / Center for Threat Awareness, a site we at SWJ like.

[Tom Odom]

I did a quick read and this report is what it is: a quick less than comprehensive substitute for the ISG report, which has its own problems.

The report assumes much in that it appears to me to largely ignore the effects of time, that is the time since the end of regime toppling operations.

A specific issue that I take issue with in this analysis (and this should surprise no one) is that the authors in addressing external factors operating in the Iraq operation, state the following:

The ISG recommends that the US make a significant effort to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict as a means to achieving cooperation from Iraq's neighbors. While we actively support efforts to end the conflict, we see no value in the fanciful view that the US or any foreign power has the means to end that conflict. As such, this massive undertaking as recommended by the Iraq Study Group has no place among strategic recommendations regarding confrontation within Iraq.
We support the two-state solution in principle, with the caveat that the Palestinian state – should it become one – adopt in unquestionable terms statements and policies that recognize and validate the existence of the Israeli state. Middle Eastern nations seeking to resolve the conflict, rather
than exploiting the Palestinians to distract their own disaffected and repressed citizens, would do well to begin the process by establishing relations with Israel and permanently ending anyrelationships, formal or informal, with terrorist organizations in and around the Palestinian
territories. The abuse of the Palestinian and Lebanese people are not causes of violence in Iraq, and should be recognized as similar to the manipulation that Iraq's Shi'a and Sunni are experiencing at the hands of Iraq's neighbors.

This amounts to strategic cop out on an issue central to this region. If the authors see Iraq as central to GWOT--and they say they do--they cannot then sideline the Arab-Israeli issue by essentially ignoring the fact there are two sides in that dispute, one that affects the entire region.

Best

Tom

[Ironhorse]

We do not have the power to resolve the Arab - Israeli conflict, but we have the power to resolve the Sunni-Shia-Kurd-multiple splinters of all above conflict? Hmmmm.

[jcustis]

Withdrawal should be considered only upon the request of the legitimate Iraqi government and [emphasis mine] only after the completion of the minimal US objectives of eliminating al-Qaeda and aligned movements (AQAM) from Iraq. Half-measures of any sort or the pursuit of ideas based less on reality and more on false hope in Iraq's neighbors threaten to further destabilize the situation in both Iraq and the region at large and places the lives of Americans, coalition members and Iraqis at greater risk.

This single paragraph speaks volumes. I'm going to ask for PCS orders to Ramadi.

[Steve Blair]

We do not have the power to resolve the Arab - Israeli conflict, but we have the power to resolve the Sunni-Shia-Kurd-multiple splinters of all above conflict? Hmmmm.

Sure. There's no powerful Kurdish lobby camped out front...

[Ironhorse]

Sure. There's no powerful Kurdish lobby camped out front...

Poking at the perceived inconsistency across the theaters, I almost quoted Marc Knopfler with "two men say they're Jesus, one of them must be wrong." But I figured it was best to leave the whole Christian angle out.

[MTanji]

I think I speak for both myself and my co-authors when I say we appreciate everyone’s feedback.