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Analysis: An Iraq Plan Unfolds

Council on Foreign Relations

January 17, 2007
Prepared by: Lionel Beehner

The debate over Iraq hinges on this dilemma: Without security, there can be no political solution, but without a political solution there can be no security. President Bush is now emphasizing security, having spent three years and over $300 billion on trying to forge political reconciliation in Iraq to little avail. He has ordered twenty-one thousand additional troops (PDF) to secure the most battle-worn parts of Baghdad and Anbar province in a last-ditch military effort to rescue the country—and perhaps the region—from catastrophe.

There are some promising signs his surge plan might work. CFR President Richard N. Haass, who on the whole is skeptical of the surge plan, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee it may “provide time and space” to allow the Iraqi government to beef up its military and police forces and make progress on unresolved issues like revenue sharing. It may also help shift the onus for failure from the Americans and onto the Iraqis in charge.

Similar counterinsurgency efforts to “clear, hold, and build” have reduced violence and enhanced stability in places like Tal Afar (New Yorker) and Mosul. It is risky, top military officials admit, but not undoable.

Read the rest of this article on the cfr.org website.

Copyright 2007 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication queries for this article should be directed to cfr.org.