As the Bush administration is increasingly criticized for its blunders abroad in Iraq, it too seems to have its qualms with the leadership it has installed there. According to an article in the Nov. 29 issue of the New York Times, a leaked memo from President George W. Bush’s national security adviser Stephen Hadley has described Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki as “ignorant of what is going on [in the streets],” “misrepresenting his intentions” and lacking sufficient power to “turn his good intentions into action.”
According to the article, Hadley seems to suggest that if Maliki doesn’t follow the suggested protocol, he could be forced to completely reconfigure the parliamentary bloc.
This comes amid the Iraqi prime minister’s push for the U.S. government to lessen its hold on Iraq’s national security, which was supposed to happen at a meeting on, Nov. 29, between Maliki and our president, according to an article in the Nov. 29 issue of the Los Angeles Times.
Regardless of our govern-ment’s lack of faith in the democracy that it has installed in the Middle Eastern country (and the leaders it so vehemently supported), now that some semblance of a government has been established, we should begin to recognize Iraq’s sovereignty and to respect Iraq as its own country.
According to the article in the L.A. Times, Maliki believes the presence of U.S. soldiers should be lessened while increasing the training of Iraq’s police and army. He also wants to increase talks with the country’s neighbors, Iran and Syria.
Maliki is providing the United States with a chance to redeem itself by acting as an aid in creating and restoring Iraq to a self-sufficient country. Instead of tightening our grip on the way the country is run, we can now choose to take the opportunity to cement a positive relationship and establish an ally in the Middle East (aside from Israel).
With the growing tension between the United States and Iran a mediator, especially one that is content with our politics in its country, has the potential to be tremendously beneficial. If we respect Iraqi leaders, they may be more willing to negotiate with Iran and help alleviate tension
the United States has been experiencing in Iran.
If we acknowledge Iraq’s independence and allow it to function without our relentless assessments and interference, we may actually be able to redeem ourselves and rid our country of the watchdog image and intrusive enforcer of Western policy we are currently mired in.
Ironically, the language of the leaked White House memo creates the impression that we’ve already left the country. It begins with the phrase “We returned from Iraq convinced…” Unfortunately, that is not yet the case.
With the huge shift in power favoring Democrats and the waning power of Republicans in Washington, it would behoove the Bush administration to act in a way that our country’s citizens have indicated they wanted when electing a relatively liberal Congress.
Let’s just hope Maliki asserts his power and the best interests of Iraq enough to persuade our stubborn president to begin to evacuate Iraq. Our future with Iran may depend on it.
