Chiarelli: Key to victory in Iraq rests outside military

By Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Saturday, December 9, 2006

ARLINGTON, Va. — The “key to victory” in Iraq no longer rests with U.S. troops, a top U.S. military leader said, but instead rests on putting “angry young men to work” restoring basic services, establishing a sound economy and political reconciliation.

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Convincing the Iraq government to hold provincial elections in 2007 — or even just announce a date for such elections — is “absolutely critical” to nipping sectarian unrest in the bud, Chiarelli said.

The reason the elections would be helpful is because Sunnis largely boycotted the January 2006 elections, which led to “an over-representation of Shias” in many provincial councils. New elections could make local governments more representative.

Another measure U.S. officials are hoping to encourage the Iraqi government to take is establishing large-scale jobs programs in order to address Iraq’s epidemic unemployment, Chiarelli said.

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