Post a Comment On: Internal Monologue

Here's her opinion. Her main criticism:
The flaw at the center of the report is the belief that America can control events in Iraq. The report concedes that combat operations by the United States military will not rescue Iraq. Indeed, it calls for a complete withdrawal of all American combat troops by early 2008. However, the report then subscribes to the misguided notion that the problem in Iraq can be solved by training Iraqi security forces: I haven't read the report yet, only the executive summary. But the fundamental problem does seem to be that the security forces we are training seem to be loyal to their ethno-religious faction rather than to the nation as a whole. Indeed, the government itself (over which Shiite militia leader Moqtada al Sader wields great influence) seems to have the same problem: it isn't seen as genuinely representing the interests of Iraq as whole. Indeed, the very notion of "Iraq as a whole" seems to be coming apart. I don't see how any amount of military training can solve this problem. What we would need to do is forge a new sense of national loyalty and identity, which would be extraordinarily difficult, to say the least. The Kurds seem to want to be as independent as possible, and Shiites and Sunnis are either trying to kill each other or trying to avoid getting killed by each other. Not the stuff with which to build a unified country.

The New York Times depicts the ISG report as a "rebuke" to Bush, who has apparently already backed away from 2 of its key recommendations:
Mr. Bush, making his first extended comments on the study, seemed to push back against two of its most fundamental recommendations: pulling back American combat brigades from Iraq over the next 15 months, and engaging in direct talks with Iran and Syria. He said he needed to be “flexible and realistic” in making decisions about troop movements, and he set conditions for talks with Iran and Syria that neither country was likely to accept.My guess is that it's going to take more than a report to get Bush to change his thinking. It would take a full-scale Republican policy rebellion, fully supported by the top military brass. And even then I'm not so sure Bush would wake up. I think the Democratic congress will either have to impeach or cut off funds. Or else we're still going to be there in 2008.