Denver – Helping Iraq find a political solution to its problems is the only way the U.S. military will be able to begin pulling out, state Treasurer Mike Coffman said Wednesday in an interview with The Associated Press less than a week before he leaves for the Middle East.
Coffman, whose seven-month stint with the Marines begins next week, said the next two elections in Iraq are vital.
“If we can move this political process forward and create a permanent constitution, create a permanent government, then I think we are on the road to a stable government,” he said. “It’s exciting to hear voices in the administration say if this political process can proceed on schedule, if we can strengthen the Iraqi security forces, then we can start to see substantial troop reductions over the spring and summer of 2006.”
“There is no purely military solution to stabilizing Iraq. It’s just not going to happen,” Coffman said.
Coffman took a leave of absence after the Marine Corps asked him to return to duty to help with elections and civil affairs; he spent Desert Storm in Kuwait.
Coffman has spent the last two months being trained and briefed and is being sent to Anbar province, which stretches west from Baghdad to Syria and Jordan. It is a hotbed of violence where Sunnis largely boycotted the last election that chose an assembly to draft a new constitution.
Coffman said he’s been told many Sunni leaders realize they made a mistake and plan to participate in the next round of elections, beginning in October as part of a nationwide referendum on the constitution. If the constitution is adopted, it will be the basis for another general election at the end of the year.
Susan Sterett, chair of political science at the University of Denver, said running an election in Iraq will be difficult because insurgents have no central leadership, making it difficult for the new government to settle long-standing differences. She said even if the Iraqis agree on a new constitution, it will take a lot of support to rebuild the country.
“It’s possible that just drafting a constitution is not going to do the trick,” she said.
Coffman said Anbar province is key because the Sunnis now realize they will have to cooperate with the Kurds in the north and Shiites in the south who control the country’s natural resources.
The toughest part may be persuading voters to go to the polls in Fallujah, where a sustained siege last year was followed by a purge of insurgents that left hundreds dead. Coffman said the decision by the United States to help rebuild the city has eased some of the tension.
