Benchmarks for Success:
Can we agree ahead of time, about what would constitute success and failure, in Nation-Building in Iraq?
Here's mine:
1. united nation. The central government has to control the ground, all of it. That means the Peshmerga have to be merged into a new national army, or disarmed. Warlords cannot be allowed to establish local armies, the Turks and Iranians and Iranian proxies have to be kept out. A federal system, or Kurdish autonomy, is OK, but there must be only one army for the whole country.
2. democracy. The government must be chosen by free elections, with competing political parties and a free press.
3. prosperity/stability. U.S. forces will not be fighting a guerrilla war, the infrastructure gets gradually rebuilt, and conditions of life gets gradually better for the average Iraqi.
I could list more, but I'll call the NeoCon method a success, if they do the above 3 goals, and a failure if they don't. |
