Newsweek: Iraq situation so dire US willing to trade-off promoting democracy for some kind stability

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17521307/site/newsweek/

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But on the ground in Iraq, another view may be emerging. Petraeus, the new commander of multinational forces in Iraq, said at his first news conference in Baghdad on Thursday that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki needed to identify militant groups who were "reconcilable" and bring them into the political process. That view was elaborated somewhat by David Kilcullen, a highly respected former Australian special forces officer, who is headed to Baghdad this week to become Petraeus's chief civilian counterinsurgency adviser. Kilcullen, in an interview Wednesday with NEWSWEEK, emphasized that nothing has been decided yet and that he would not comment on current policy. But Kilcullen said that, despite recent signs of improvement, the security situation is so dire that U.S. authorities could soon face a grim tradeoff between promoting democracy and providing stability, at least in the short term. “Both (democracy and stability) are important but we need to recognize that, on the ground, these agendas often work counter to each other,” Kilcullen said. “If you democratize before stabilizing, you lose control of the situation, and it's very hard to stabilize thereafter. If you wait too long before democratizing, people lose confidence in the process. So you have to make a judgment call that reflects the realities on the ground.”