In the old, familiar fashion, mounting U.S. casualties in Iraq have mobilized increasing public doubts about the war. More than half the American people now believe the invasion of Iraq was a mistake.
They’re right. But it would also be a mistake to pull out now, or to start pulling out or to set a date certain for pulling out. Instead, we need a strategy to create a stable, democratizing and peaceful state in Iraq – a strategy the administration has failed to develop and articulate.
From the outset we needed a three-pronged strategy: diplomatic, political and military. Unfortunately, the administration saw no need for a diplomatic track, and its scattershot diplomacy in the region has been ill-advised and counterproductive. The U.S. diplomatic failure has magnified the difficulties facing the political and military elements of strategy by contributing to the increasing infiltration of jihadists and the insurgency’s surprising resiliency.
Meanwhile, on the military track, security on the ground remains poor at best. U.S. armed forces still haven’t received resources, restructuring and guidance adequate for the magnitude of the task.
Only in June, more than two years into the mission of training Iraqi forces, did the president announce such “new steps” as partnering with Iraqi units, establishing “transition teams” to work with Iraqi units and training Iraqi ministries to conduct antiterrorist operations. But there’s nothing new about any of this; it’s the same nation-building doctrine we used in Vietnam.
Adding a diplomatic track to the strategy is a must. The U.S. should form a standing conference of Iraq’s neighbors, complete with committees dealing with all the regional economic and political issues, including trade, travel, cross- border infrastructure projects and, of course, cutting off the infiltration of jihadists. The United States should tone down its raw rhetoric and instead listen more carefully to the many voices within the region. A public U.S. declaration forswearing permanent bases in Iraq would be a helpful step in engaging both regional and Iraqi support.
On the political side, the timeline for the agreements on the constitution is less important than the substance of the document. It is up to American leadership to help engineer, implement and sustain a compromise that will avoid the “red lines” of the respective factions and leave in place a state that both we and Iraq’s neighbors can support.
The U.S. also needs a legal mandate from the government to provide additional civil assistance and advice, along with additional U.S. civilian personnel, to help strengthen the institutions of government. Key ministries must be reinforced, provincial governments made functional, a system of justice established and the rule of law promoted locally. For years there will be a continuing need for assistance in institutional development, leadership training and international monitoring, and this must be made palatable to Iraqis concerned with their nation’s sovereignty.
On the military side, the vast effort underway to train an army must be matched by efforts to train police and local justices. Canada, France and Germany should be engaged to assist. Neighboring states should provide observers and technical assistance. In military terms, striking at insurgents and terrorists is necessary but insufficient.
Military and security operations must return primarily to the tried- and-true methods of counter-insurgency: winning the hearts and minds of the populace through civic action, small-scale economic development and positive daily interactions. Over time, U.S. forces should be pulled back into reserve roles and phased out.
The growing chorus of voices demanding a pullout should seriously alarm the Bush administration, because President Bush and his team are repeating the failure of Vietnam: failing to craft a realistic and effective policy and instead simply demanding that the American people show resolve. If the administration won’t adopt a winning strategy, then the American people will be justified in demanding that it bring our troops home.
Wesley Clark, a retired Army general, was supreme allied commander in Europe during the war in Kosovo. He was a candidate for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination.
