<Musharraf Accepts 'In Principle' Sending Pakistani Troops to Iraq>
That's an encouraging sign, that there is some understanding in Washington, that Western troops cannot keep the peace in Iraq.
Notice, however, that Pakistan's government has set conditions that Bush will never agree to: letting Iraqis run Iraq, a quick end to the military government, working with the UN. So, this is probably Pakistan's polite way of saying no.
Notice, also, that choosing to use proxy forces from Muslim nations like Pakistan, means giving up the pretense of bringing secular democracy and civil liberties to Iraq. It is rather implausible, that territory controlled by soldiers from wholly undemocratic nations like Pakistan (or Egypt, or any other potential source of proxy Islamic soldiers), can lead to democracy in Iraq. Of course, many implausible things are believed in Washington, so who knows.
If we wanted Muslim soldiers from a nation with a democratic tradition, the only choice is Turkey. That isn't going to happen, for several good and bad reasons.
In order to be effective, it can't be just tokenism. We would have to turn over the entire internal policing of Iraq to proxies, and restrict our troops to external security. In both Korea and Vietnam, there were a long list of allied nations who sent tiny numbers of soldiers to fight in our war, but it was still our war, and everybody saw it that way. |
