Iraq: Retreat is not an option

Not a pro-PNAC piece but an article calling for a UN takeover in Iraq by a writer who opposed the invasion.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,1076044,00.html

Those of us who opposed the war can claim that we were more right than we thought. There were no WMDs, no nuclear programme, no legal case and no link with al-Qaeda, until Bush and Blair invited them along. And yet the anti-war movement, whatever its stake on prescience, has proved a depressingly negative force, too. The populist spirit that politicised a generation and illuminated mass marches has curdled into pessimism and posturing. It may be excessive to hope that a peace movement can save a single Iraqi life. But it might show better that it mourned, or even noticed.

This is Britain's war, too. Yet the Prime Minister, its joint impresario, has faced nothing more irksome than a few 'Bliar' placards in Bournemouth and the sideshow of the Hutton inquiry. March against Bush by all means, but wonder, also, why we absolve our own politicians from intensive scrutiny and protest. In the US, by contrast, every CNN phone-in programme reeks of fury. Almost 60 per cent of Americans now want their troops reduced or out.

Defeat makes hard men malleable. If the Bush administration is to be persuaded of a sensible way forward, then this may be the last, frail chance. The proconsul, Paul Bremer, should be replaced by someone with UN legitimacy, and the Iraqi police and army expanded as fast as possible. There must be a timetable for a handover, but also the recognition that democracy (very probably an Islamic one) cannot be forged without the rule of law.

Yet, at this vital juncture, the leading anti-war movement parades only one idea. The US pull-out 'within months' desired by the Stop the War Coalition is also the dream of cost-cutting Americans. The fact that Bush may himself feel secretly tempted to leave Iraq to anarchy or civil war makes it imperative that he and Blair, the architects of this disaster, are held accountable by the coherent and the peaceful.

For those of us who opposed the invasion, the way forward is indeed uncertain. Particularly when--as this piece indicates--the international institutions we might be looking to for guidance and leadership are themselves reeling from the violence.

Obviously the "street" cannot devise a plan, but we are desperately in need of one. One that is viable and just. Otherwise we are left with Rummy's "long, hard slog," which is the worst possible option. Frankly, I fear there may be no change of direction until Shrub is defeated in 04 (God willing!).