Anthony Cordesman
Anthony Cordesman
Anthony H. Cordesmanholds the Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studiesand is a national security analyst on a number of global conflicts...
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We did not plan three years ago to create more than token Iraqi forces. Now we're at 230,000 roughly and counting. Our whole strategy is dependent on the success of the Iraqi army and the Iraqi police.
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It's an essential part of the broader strategy. But you won't have a situation where Iraqi battalions come on line and U.S. troops leave the next week.
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The reality is that if the Shi'ites and Kurds can be inclusive and if they can reach a settlement with most of the Iraqi Sunnis, then the efforts of U.S. and coalition forces and the growing Iraqi forces are almost certain to be successful,
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How much of the battle space can the Iraqi forces take over, and who is actually doing the fighting - those are the key measurements. The measure cannot be the elimination of the insurgency, as desirable as that would be. You cannot eliminate all of the bombings.
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And internally, it again raises the problem that rather than seeing an international force, Iraqis always see U.S. troops. And that raises all kinds of questions about whether the U.S. will leave.
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These are scarcely people you want to integrate into a national force. This would simply create sectarian or ethnic forces or divisions within the forces that already exist.
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And to be perfectly blunt, I think only fools would bet the lives of other men's sons and daughters on their own arrogance and call this force a cakewalk or a speed bump or something that you can dismiss.
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There's so much spin in these numbers. A lot of facts get disguised. . . . Total manpower is meaningless. The army is the key force in direct combat.
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Everything I know about counterterrorism is, you deal with specific cells.
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Even if the constitution clearly wins acceptance by most Shiites and Kurds and some Sunnis, this is only the start of a process, not the end. Even the best outcome of the vote is the prelude to months and years of additional effort.
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We essentially used a bull to liberate a china shop.
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You are dealing with an unproven prime minister. It's the beginning of a very contentious process. It's very unlikely that all of these issues are going to get resolved by the end of the year.
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will end in snatching defeat from the jaws of uncertainty.
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You can both vote and hold a rifle.