Couple tripartition with a sensible phased withdrawal from Iraq, and
you've finally got a plan.
Bush, on the other hand, has no plan. HE was suprised that there were
demonstrations for Hezbollah - how could they be so ungrateful, after
all we've sacraficed, he wondered.
---
A Plan to Hold Iraq Together
By Joseph R. Biden Jr.
Thursday, August 24, 2006; A21
Four months ago, in an opinion piece with Les Gelb, president emeritus
of the Council on Foreign Relations, I laid out a detailed plan to keep
Iraq together, protect America's interests and bring our troops home.
Many experts here and in Iraq embraced our ideas. Since then,
circumstances in Iraq have made the plan even more on target -- and
urgent -- than when we first proposed it.
The new, central reality in Iraq is that violence between Shiites and
Sunnis has surpassed the insurgency and foreign terrorists as the main
security threat. Our leading civilian and military experts on Iraq --
Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and Gens. George Casey, Peter Pace and John
Abizaid -- have all acknowledged that fact.
In December's elections, 90 percent of the votes went to sectarian
lists. Ethnic militias increasingly are the law in Iraq. They have
infiltrated the official security forces. Sectarian cleansing has begun
in mixed areas, with 200,000 Iraqis fleeing their homes in recent months
for fear of sectarian reprisals. Massive unemployment feeds the ranks of
sectarian militias and criminal gangs.
No number of troops can solve this problem. The only way to hold Iraq
together and create the conditions for our armed forces to responsibly
withdraw is to give Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds incentives to pursue their
interests peacefully and to forge a sustainable political settlement.
Unfortunately, this administration does not have a coherent plan or any
discernible strategy for success in Iraq. Its strategy is to prevent
defeat and hand the problem off when it leaves office.
Meanwhile, more and more Americans, understandably frustrated, support
an immediate withdrawal, even at the risk of trading a dictator for
chaos and a civil war that could become a regional war.
Both are bad alternatives. The five-point plan Les Gelb and I laid out
offers a better way.
First, the plan calls for maintaining a unified Iraq by decentralizing
it and giving Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis their own regions. The central
government would be left in charge of common interests, such as border
security and the distribution of oil revenue.
Second, it would bind the Sunnis to the deal by guaranteeing them a
proportionate share of oil revenue. Each group would have an incentive
to maximize oil production, making oil the glue that binds the country
together.
Third, the plan would create a massive jobs program while increasing
reconstruction aid -- especially from the oil-rich Gulf states -- but
tying it to the protection of minority rights.
Fourth, it would convene an international conference that would produce
a regional nonaggression pact and create a Contact Group to enforce
regional commitments.
Fifth, it would begin the phased redeployment of U.S. forces this year
and withdraw most of them by the end of 2007, while maintaining a small
follow-on force to keep the neighbors honest and to strike any
concentration of terrorists.
This plan is consistent with Iraq's constitution, which already provides
for the country's 18 provinces to join together in regions, with their
own security forces and control over most day-to-day issues. This plan
is the only idea on the table for dealing with the militias, which are
likely to retreat to their respective regions instead of engaging in
acts of violence. This plan is consistent with a strong central
government that has clearly defined responsibilities. Indeed, it
provides an agenda for that government, whose mere existence will not
end sectarian violence. This plan is not partition -- in fact, it may be
the only way to prevent violent partition and preserve a unified Iraq.
To be sure, this plan presents real challenges, especially with regard
to large cities with mixed populations. We would maintain Baghdad as a
federal city, belonging to no one region. And we would require
international peacekeepers for other mixed cities to support local
security forces and further protect minorities. The example of Bosnia is
illustrative, if not totally analogous. Ten years ago, Bosnia was being
torn apart by ethnic cleansing. The United States stepped in decisively
with the Dayton Accords to keep the country whole by, paradoxically,
dividing it into ethnic federations. We even allowed Muslims, Croats and
Serbs to retain separate armies. With the help of U.S. troops and
others, Bosnians have lived a decade in peace. Now they are
strengthening their central government and disbanding their separate armies.
At best, the course we're on has no end in sight. At worst, it leads to
a terrible civil war and possibly a regional war. This plan offers a way
to bring our troops home, protect our security interests and preserve
Iraq as a unified country. Those who reject this plan out of hand must
answer one simple question: What is your alternative?
The writer is a senator from Delaware and the ranking Democrat on the
Foreign Relations Committee.
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