Here you'll find what I'm calling the "Brzezinski Plan" for the withdrawal from Iraq. Brzezinski was President Carter's National Securtiy Advisor. I have posted his points and my commentary here, but you can also go to my website www.anthonersblog.blogspot.com for more of my writings and the writings of my dear husband, Bryan Anthony.
Enjoy
A couple of days ago on CNN, a debate of sorts was held between two of the greatest minds in the field of national security and international relations - Henry Kissenger and Zbigniew Brzezinski. In the course of this discussion Brzezinski (pictured above), who was the National Security Adviser for President Carter, offered what I think is a fresh and intelligent option for an orderly withdrawal from Iraq. The points are Brzesinski's, the commentary below each point is my own.
Brzezinski's plan was offered in four parts:
1. Have the Iraqi Government ask us to leave.
This seems silly on its face. Why would we ask the Iraqis to ask us to do something that we could do without going through all the ballyhoo? The reason is that the Iraqi government (when it is finally formed) must be seen as THE authority in their own country. We are, technically, in Iraq on the invitation of their government, and, if we're going to leave, the order should come from the same entity that invited us. It's what the Iraqis want, and, increasingly, it's becoming what the American people want.
2. Set a date to leave.
Brzezinski says a year, but it could be any time frame in the reasonably near future. The administration and it's supporters tell us time and time again that setting a time table for withdrawal would only serve to encourage the "terrorists." Sure it would, but more than that it would energize the Iraqi government to fight the "terrorists." If faced with the imminent withdrawal of U.S. forces, the Iraqis will be forced to, as we say, "step up" and take responsibility for their own security. They would suddenly have a concrete REASON to create stable institutions and a viable defense force. That reason doesn't really exist today because the Iraqi leaders think we're going to be in their country protecting them forever, and so, I think, does the Administration. We are, after all, in the process of building a dozen or so PERMANENT military bases in Iraq. That tells me we have no intention of leaving... ever.
3. Have Iraq convene a conference of their neighbors in the region to address the issues arising out of the American withdrawal an to offer solutions.
Once we are on our way out, but preferably before we leave, the Iraqis could invite the advice and help of their neighbors. The main complaint of our detractors and enemies in the region, after all, is that we are trying to enforce our own vision of security and stability on a nation, a people, and a region about which we really know very little. The enemy sees us as a colonizing force. Think about it - if the responsibility for creating the policies to provide stability and security were transfered unequivocally to this hypothetical conference, a conference free of U.S. involvement, the complaint mentioned above would become truly groundless. Once the enemy is deprived of their number one recruiting theme, that the United States seeks colonial domination of the middle east, it will become harder and harder for them to maintain a solid resistance to the new Iraqi order. Securing and stabilizing the region would become the sole responsibility of the inhabitance of that region, giving them a 100% stake in their own futures. Again, there would be a new incentive, one that does not exist as long as the regional powers can blame the U.S. for everything that goes wrong. If we are no longer there, their problems become their responsibility.
4. Have U.S. convene an international donor conference, similar to the one for Afghanistan, to create a coherent system of support for the new Iraq.
The U.S., now working from the outside, could still offer their help, but in a way that does not offend and humiliate the targets of that help. By using our influence to bring assistance to the Iraqi people with economic rather than military force, we would be giving ourselves the opportunity to really win the "hearts and minds" of the population. We would also be in an ideal position to regain the international support and moral authority, support and authority that has been lost, to lead the world in countering the threats and dangers posed by Iran and North Korea, threats that have only ballooned since our entrapment in Iraq.
This four step process, in my opinion, is the best suggestion for an exit strategy I have yet heard. The American people want an exit strategy, they want to get out, they want to bring their sons and daughters, sisters and brothers, mothers and fathers home from this disaster of American foreign policy. This process would offer hope to the Iraqi people, a people who want, and have a right to expect, a real stake in their future; a people that do not want their futures built by American architects, but want, as do all people, to determine for themselves how they will organize and govern.
Whether this is the plan adopted for our extrication or not, we cannot "stay the course" as it is. The course we are on leads to disaster. The course leads to ruin for the Iraqi people, further fragmentation of our own polity, mounting criticism from those nations that have historically been our friends, and, in the end, the isolation of our country by the frustrated international community.
Staying the course just for the sake of staying the course, for the sake of showing our "resolve," is a proposition that carries with it grave consequences. It is idiotic. It is not a real policy, it is rhetoric that's only purpose, as I see it, is to show the supposed "strength" of our leaders in the political arena. That is not to say I disparage the character of our leaders. I think they think they're doing what's best. And that makes the situation all the more scary.
How about we change course? The plan above offers one solution, but it's surely not the only one. Let's have a real debate, a real discussion of our options and let's have that debate without the partisanship and politics that have infected this war from the very beginning. This is a war. This is a policy that kills human beings on both sides. This is not an political issue, it is a national decision that must be free of politics entirely. Perhaps that's too much to hope for.