NYT Op-Ed on Exiting Iraq (Nagl, Kahl, & Brimley)

The article can be found here.

I’m a pretty big fan of Nagl as a spokesman for the effort (I am unfamiliar with the other two co-authors), and as far as I can tell, he somehow manages to deliver his personal opinions of the conflict and strategy in a semi-official capacity (as in, he didn’t retire to do so).

I agree with a few points made in his article (especially his concern for the potential government crackdown on the Awakening Council… I prefer not to use the PR-fantasy “Sons of Iraq” label).  However I do strongly disagree with the importance he puts on the amount of leverage the US government should retain.  I can understand why any American serviceman would see US power in Iraq as a positive prima facie, and anyone who has witnessed the quality of the Iraqi government institutions firsthand probably has much more reason to maintain US control over Iraq.  As a civilian, I’m much better acquainted with the American govrenment and leadership and do not trust their judgment that much more than the Iraqi government.

I believe that both institutions are largely incompetent however even when the results are similarly disastrous, I prefer that the US accelerate its withdrawal and allow the project to fail as an Iraqi project.  The Iraqis have no recourse but violence when they are dismayed by US performance; the US has, in a way, provided Iraqis with non-violent recourse when their own government fails.  Let them exercise it.  And as people only talk about government when everything is going to shit, the Iraqi government’s landmark incompetence is providing every Iraqi reason to enroll themselves in a crash course in democratic participation.

We must remain in service of our own responsibility over the disaster, but I believe the lead (in almost all policy, as much as on the ground) cannot be give to the Iraqi government fast enough.  Sadly, the Iraqi government knows our support is contingent on far less than the support of their own voting blocs, so we will always be faced with times where the Iraqi government holds the priorities of a rabid Shia base over those of the US government, howevre we have to allow them to err to an extent.

(I know I’ve just provided implicit support for the Iraqi crackdown on the Awakening Councils, and I type these powerless words with great hesitation.  But I do not believe that we can continue to put the goals of our occupation and our idea of democracy over those of Iraqis.  We have to allow them to learn err on their own, but be there to accelerate their study so it does not take the centuries it took us.)

… and the cow goes moo