Show Plan u B Washington is close to a consensus The following editorial appeared in Sundays Sunday's Washington Post The Iraq Study Group appears likely to recommend a new course for US U.S. policy this week that in important respects corresponds with what the Bush administration leading members of Congress and the Iraqi government already are proposing The elements of that emerging consensus begin with a commitment to greatly increase the US U.S. training and advisory mission for forthe forthe forthe the Iraqi army During the coming months command of the army would be steadily transferred to the government which would then lead the fight against insurgents and renegade militias As that process went forward a substantial reduction of US U.S. combat troops would take place Both the study group and the Pentagon are reportedly considering a halving j of the force of I j jI I I r American troops during 2007 though without adopting a rigid timetable that's close to what Democratic Sens Sense Carl M. M Levin Mich and Jack Reed RI have called for While its it's not clear where President Bush stands Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki al-Maliki said Thursday that he believed that Iraqi forces would be ready for forthe forthe forthe the beginning of a US U.S. withdrawal by June Mr Bush is more likely to resist the study groups group's proposal for a new US U.S. diplomatic offensive in inthe inthe inthe the region That's because it would include contacts with Iran and Syria along with Iraq's other neighbors possibly through an international confer conference nce We believe that such a diplomatic initiative aimed above all at encouraging an accord among Iraq's warring parties is long overdue But whether it occurs ultimately is less important than what happens inside Iraq Outside actors including the United States cannot impose order or broker a apolitical apolitical apolitical political solution unless and until the warring Sunni Shiite and Kurd factions choose to do so That's where the potential trouble for a anew anew anew new US U.S. policy may begin The study group proposals like those being developed by the Bush administration assume that the army and government of Mr Maliki are worth wortha a continued if slowly diminishing commitment of US U.S. military support- support with an inevitable cost costin costin costin in American lives But Butare Butare Butare are they Mr Bush has made his bet After meeting with Mr Maliki on Thursday he called him a strong leader and the right guy for Iraq Yet a leaked memo by Mr Bushs Bush's national security adviser spells out f I doubts shared by many Iraqis and Americans Though Mr Maliki has frequently committed r himself to a pluralistic and democratic Iraq he has been either unable or unwilling to rein in Shiite militias or prevent his own government from pursuing a sectarian agenda In fact it may be that Mr Maliki's government the army or orthe orthe orthe the political system as a whole are headed toward dissolution the Bush administration needs a plan for that possibility But writing off the government now is not in inthe inthe inthe the US U.S. interest The best remaining option for the United States lies in a long- long term effort to bolster Iraq's political administration and army so that it defends the current constitution and slowly gains the ability to take on the enemies of the United States First among those are the Sunni extremists linked to the Party and al It which continue to inflict more than 70 percent of American casualties Giving up on the government as advocates r of a rapid withdrawal suggest would simply concede the country to those enemies as well as asto asto asto to Shiite extremists and betray those Iraqis who believed in the US U.S. vision of a democracy at peace with its neighbors It would mean the destruction of American allies in Iraq and throughout the region Mr Bush who commonly is accused of being out of touch with reality made one statement last week that struck us as pretty rational This business about a graceful exit the president said simply has no realism to it at all |