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You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / The Future of Iraq

The Future of Iraq

by John Cole|  June 22, 20058:15 pm| 12 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs

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This seems like a success:

A one-day international conference in Brussels that brought together more than 80 countries and organizations has pledged its support for Iraq’s transitional government and its plans for political and judicial reform and economic reconstruction.

The idea behind the conference, co-hosted by the European Union and the United States, was for Iraq’s elected authorities to lay out their priorities for the country. The international community was then expected to say how it could help the Iraqis achieve their goals.

Although there were no concrete aid pledges, nations gave their moral support to the Iraqi government and promised full backing for its transition to democracy, independence and peace…

Iraqi officials promised to make progress in bringing Sunni Arabs into the transition process as they write a new constitution and hold general elections later this year. They also said that over time Iraq will be able to deal with the stubborn insurgency plaguing the country, but for now it still needs U.S. and international military support.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari sounded optimistic as the conference concluded.

“Today was a good day for Iraq. It was a successful day for Iraq and good news for the Iraqi people to see that the international community is coming together to stand by the process they are trying to initiate to build freedom and democracy,” he said.

Now it would be nice if the entire international community would provide some, uh, substantial help. And, mind you, any kind of help would be appreciated. You don’t even need to send your military. Apparently, we are even facing a shortage of accountants.

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Reader Interactions

12Comments

  1. 1.

    Geek, Esq.

    June 22, 2005 at 11:02 pm

    Sigh. I really want to believe that things are on the right track there.

  2. 2.

    stickler

    June 22, 2005 at 11:52 pm

    Substantive help? From Europe? The land where politicians have repeatedly run — and won — elections based on opposing W’s brand of Texas Hold ‘Em?

    Giving Europe the middle finger for four years is probably not the best way to get French or German boots on the ground in Iraq. Freedom Fries, anyone?

    Though I’m sure the French enjoy stringing our Condi along with polite words and expansive gestures.

  3. 3.

    Rick

    June 23, 2005 at 12:00 am

    French or German boots on the ground…

    Europe=France & Germany, evidently. And I do suspect boots on the ground means bidness, and not armed forces, because the latter would be flat, fifth wheels.

    Funny, regional elections in Germany and France have been poor for old Gerhard and Jacques.

    Cordially…

    P.S. It’s supposed to be about the people of Iraq and their chance for civilization, not about W. So the Fritz & Frere Jacques show might eventually perceive an Iraqi gravy train to replace their old Saddam standby.

  4. 4.

    Aaron

    June 23, 2005 at 3:23 am

    I believe France and Germany, i.e. Europe, are holding their troops back because they will be intervening to stop the genocide in Darfur.

  5. 5.

    Gary Farber

    June 23, 2005 at 3:50 am

    I can’t wait to see how long it takes for someone to take you literally, and not believe that you were, you know, being sarcastic.

    Okay, I can wait.

  6. 6.

    p.lukasiak

    June 23, 2005 at 5:16 am

    There are a couple of good reasons why more concrete help is unlikely to be forthcoming…

    1) The “current government” of Iraq is an ad hoc coalition born of political necessity whose shelf-life is severely limited. After all, there is supposed to be a new constitution coming down the pike soon — throwing money at the priorities of the current government may be a complete waste. (and that’s forgetting the fact that the “current government” looks more like a means to split the opportunities for graft than an administrative bureaucracy.)

    2) Nobody wants to become the obvious next target for the jihadists and insurgents who are trying to sow chaos in Iraq. Being too closely associated with the “current government” — especially if a Shia-Sunni bloodbath ensues — paints a big red bullseye on any nation that provides too much support.

  7. 7.

    Aaron

    June 23, 2005 at 7:50 am

    80% of Iraq is Shia/Kurd.

    The Sunnis are not going to win this one, unless as a break away republic…and that seems to work well in Yugoslavia, so either way.

  8. 8.

    Aaron

    June 23, 2005 at 7:57 am

    “I assume that the war in Afghanistan is over, or is the contention that you have that it continues?” she said to a reporter.
    A few moments later, she said: “This isn’t about the duration of the war. The war in Afghanistan is over.”

    –Now, after the “Mission Accomplished” fiasco, which was a fiasco and a mistake, I assume all non-hypocritical left wing posters will be making sure to remind us how wrong Pelosi was when she said this today.

    Jesus, spring fighting just started again there.

  9. 9.

    James Emerson

    June 23, 2005 at 9:54 am

    The key phrase: Although there were no concrete aid pledges, nations gave their moral support to the Iraqi government…

    Atta boy Iraqis…atta boy…keep up the good work…

    At this point, it’s not…will we lose…but rather…when will we lose? Although we currently have a little wiggle room to define the nature of our defeat, I am completely confident that the administration will allow respectable defeat to slip from our hands.

    Face it folks, the administration doesn’t have a clue as to how to end this, and the rest of the world is quite content too see it end badly for us.

  10. 10.

    p.lukasiak

    June 23, 2005 at 10:17 am

    Face it folks, the administration doesn’t have a clue as to how to end this, and the rest of the world is quite content too see it end badly for us.

    I think the rest of the world would be quite content to see it end badly for the Bush Administration as opposed to “us”….

    That’s why I’m an advocate of withdrawal from Iraq. Only when Bushco acknowledges that it has failed in Iraq will the international community pitch in, because the risks posed by a “failed state” Iraq is too great to ignore. Hell, once Bush concedes defeat, the French will probably start shipping night-goggles to Syria so they can secure their borders!

  11. 11.

    Kimmitt

    June 23, 2005 at 12:27 pm

    Er, how many folks do we have in Afghanistan as versus Iraq? How many casualties have we suffered in Afghanistan as versus Iraq over, say, the past year? One could very plausibly make the claim that the war in Afghanistan is over, and now we are in a different phase of our operations there.

Comments are closed.

Trackbacks

  1. Mudville Gazette says:
    June 23, 2005 at 7:48 am

    Dawn Patrol

    Iraq Wounded soldier ID [NEW! MilBlog Ring member! – Phil and Becky – in Iraq] I wrote two posts yesterday about a soldier in our Battalion who received shrapnel wounds from an IED detonation. As several astute readers have deduced,…

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