LEON PANETTA: THE WRONG MESSAGE TO IRAQ

[Veronica.Franco]

THE WRONG MESSAGE TO IRAQ
U.S. stance must be based on reality

Leon Panetta Guest columnist

The test of any effective strategy in war is whether it recognizes the realities of the situation on the ground and makes the changes necessary to overcome those realities and achieve the mission.

The principle failing of U.S. policy in Iraq is that it has never been able to fully recognize or easily adjust to the brutal realities of that war. Much of our strategy has been based on the false hope that the leaders of Iraq would take responsibility for governing and defending themselves without having to pay any price for failure. That is the wrong message.

Unfortunately, the president's revised strategy announced Wednesday continues to send the same message: that the United States will provide additional troops and support, and that the U.S. commitment is open-ended regardless of whether Iraq makes progress on national reconciliation, security and governance.

The Iraq Study Group that I served on made very clear in its report that the United States must not make an open-ended commitment to keep large numbers of American troops deployed in Iraq and that if the Iraqi government failed to achieve essential reforms, a price would be paid in reduced political, military or economic support. That tough message is essential based on the following realities of Iraq:

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The mission in Iraq as stated by the president is to get Iraq to govern, sustain and defend itself. The brutal realities of Iraq make clear that that will not happen by simply repeating what has not worked in the past. It will only change when the president is willing to say that the United States will no longer provide additional troops or a blank check to the Iraq government if it fails to govern, sustain and defend the nation. Unless the Iraqi government gets that clear, tough and unambiguous message, the current situation in Iraq will continue to deteriorate and ultimately fail.

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