War Is Over! (If Bush Wants It, and He Doesn't Seem To)

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By Randolph T. Holhut (about the author) Page 2 of 2 page(s)

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The Iraqis need to end the fighting and come up with a power sharing agreement similar to the deals that ended the recent civil wars in Lebanon and Northern Ireland. Cole suggests that both the Sunnis and Shiites would need to demobilize their militias and allow a UN/OIC peacekeeping force to step in to maintain order. Another round of provincial elections would need to be held to ensure more equitable representation in the Iraqi government. And Iraq's neighbors should tie any financial aid to all sides holding up their end of the deal.

What would multilateral diplomacy combined with a phased withdrawal of U.S. troops accomplish? According to Cole, if American troops are gone and Sunnis get fair representation in a new unity government, their main grievances disappear. Shiites and Kurds would get an end to the civil war. Iraq's neighbors would avoid the fallout from that war spreading beyond Iraq's borders. The United States would be seen as honest brokers in the Arab and Muslim world, thus taking away one of al-Qaida's main recruiting tools.

None of this would be easy to pull off, but it stands a greater chance of success than the current strategy of the Bush administration.

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Randolph T. Holhut has been a journalist in New England for more than 25 years. He edited "The George Seldes Reader" (Barricade Books). He can be reached at randyholhut@yahoo.com.

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