Timelines And Realities

In today's Washington Post there is a piece by Mowaffak al-Rubaie, who is Iraq's National Security Adviser. In it he lays out the plan that the Iraqi government and coalition forces are following. This, of course, completely negates the nonsense people like Murtha and Kerry spout about needing a plan. There is a plan. More importantly, the plan is goal-driven, not a slave to arbitrary dates formulated by some politician half a world away.

There has been much talk about a withdrawal of U.S. and coalition troops from Iraq, but no defined timeline has yet been set. There is, however, an unofficial "road map" to foreign troop reductions that will eventually lead to total withdrawal of U.S. troops. This road map is based not just on a series of dates but, more important, on the achievement of set objectives for restoring security in Iraq.

Iraq has a total of 18 governorates, which are at differing stages in terms of security. Each will eventually take control of its own security situation, barring a major crisis. But before this happens, each governorate will have to meet stringent minimum requirements as a condition of being granted control. For example, the threat assessment of terrorist activities must be low or on a downward trend. Local police and the Iraqi army must be deemed capable of dealing with criminal gangs, armed groups and militias, and border control. There must be a clear and functioning command-and-control center overseen by the governor, with direct communication to the prime minister's situation room.

Kerry's grand plan is to call an enormous meeting and force the Iraqi government to "do something" by holding them hostage to a precipitous troop withdrawal. Besides the fact that the "do something" way of doing business inevitably leads to failure, the Iraqis themselves see the pitfall of that approach:

While Iraq is trying to gain its independence from the United States and the coalition, in terms of taking greater responsibility for its actions, particularly in terms of security, there are still some influential foreign figures trying to spoon-feed our government and take a very proactive role in many key decisions. Though this may provide some benefits in the short term, in the long run it will only serve to make the Iraqi government a weaker one and eventually lead to a culture of dependency. Iraq has to grow out of the shadow of the United States and the coalition, take responsibility for its own decisions, learn from its own mistakes, and find Iraqi solutions to Iraqi problems, with the knowledge that our friends and allies are standing by with support and help should we need it.

Read the whole thing. It's short and to the point.