Dr. Ivan Eland, an anti-interventionist libertarian and Senior Fellow and Director of the Center on Peace & Liberty at the Independent Institute, on Courting Disaster: Bush's Real Strategy in Iraq
President Bush's strategy in Iraq is now clear. And I don't mean the five-point rehash of existing platitudes found in his recent 'major' speech at the Army War College. I'm talking about the real, behind-the-scenes plan. In the battles for the Sunni town of Falluja and the Shiite cities south of Baghdad, the Bush administration has essentially capitulated hoping to reduce, until the U.S. election is over, images of fighting, mayhem and U.S. blood streaming to the American public.
In Falluja, the U.S. military has withdrawn its forces, and the town is being run by anti-U.S. guerrillas and a former general from Saddam Hussein's regime. Similarly, the United States has agreed to pull out most of its forces from towns in the south and allow the rebellious militias of Moktada al-Sadr to remain armed and intact. The U.S. military has also agreed to suspend its arrest warrant for al-Sadr (there is even talk of offering this 'villain' or his supporters a place in the interim government, which will be instituted on June 30). This most recent Bush administration flip-flop is a far cry from earlier boasts to 'kill or capture' al-Sadr and 'destroy' his militia. In fact, in an implicit admission that a unified and democratic Iraq will never happen, the United States has elected to avoid the risk of disarming the many armies and militias all over the country.
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