We have set up an interim government which will appoint a constitutional commission. This is a good first step. If you think that the attacks, which are quite modest, and do not reflect broad hostility among the populace, are more or less a reasonable response to our presence, rather than coming from die hard Ba'athists and Islamicists, I think you are laboring under a mistaken premise. All that would happen, in my opinion, were we to withdraw would that there would be a bloodbath, as Ba'athists, Islamicists, reformists, and other interested groups, such as the Kurds, vied for power or autonomy.
I do not think it is inevitable that Iraq become a shari'ah state, and if it does, our leaving now is not likely to produce a reservoir of goodwill. The people need time to decompress and unlearn habits formed under a brutal dictatorship, and to learn something of normal politics. It is my belief that even among the Shi'ites, the appeal of a moderate regime will be felt......... |
