QandO

June 28, 2004

Early Sovereignty Handover fools terrorists
Posted by McQ

In a smart move, the sovereignty hand-over in Iraq was ceremonially completed two days before schedule:

The U.S.-led coalition transferred sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government two days early Monday in a surprise move that apparently caught insurgents off guard, averting a feared campaign of attacks to sabotage the highly symbolic step toward self-rule.

For all intents and purposes, that had already been done when the last of the ministeries was handed over last week. But as we all know, much of this is about symbolism, and there is no doubt in my mind that the terrorists were intent upon disrupting the symbolic handover.

The new interim government was sworn in six hours after the handover ceremony, which Western governments largely hailed as a necessary next step. The Arab world voiced cautious optimism, but maintained calls for the U.S. military to leave the country quickly.

Of course that's not going to happen ... not until it seems apparent that Iraq can handle its own security. And, as we heard today, NATO will now take a hand in that. James Lakely of the Washington Times reports that NATO has now come on board, at least partially, to help Iraq in an area of critical need .... security:

"We have decided today to offer NATO's assistance to the government of Iraq with the training of its security forces," said a draft declaration urging member nations "to contribute to the training of the Iraqi armed forces."

"We have asked the North Atlantic Council to develop on an urgent basis the modalities to implement this decision with the Iraqi interim government."
[...]
"If we do not tackle the problems where they emerge, they will end up on our doorstep," Mr. de Hoop Scheffer said, mirroring Mr. Bush's oft-repeated doctrine that the United States will battle terrorists as they gather in other countries rather than fight them on American streets.

Sounds pretty concilliatory and cooperative (and multilateral) if you ask me.

As for the new Iraqi goverment:

"This is a historical day," Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said during the ceremony. "We feel we are capable of controlling the security situation."

[...]

Allawi delivered a sweeping speech sketching out some of his goals for the country, urging people not to be afraid of the "outlaws" fighting against "Islam and Muslims," assuring them that "God is with us."

"I warn the forces of terror once again," he said "We will not forget who stood with us and against us in this crisis."

Now the real test begins. It is going to be bloody, no question, given the absolute disdain for innocent Iraqis with which the terrorists have prosecuted their agenda to this point. But it will be Iraqis now fighting in the counter-attack. The success or failure of a free Iraq now rests in the hands of the citizens of Iraq .... the question is will they step up to the challenge?

ADDENDUM (Dale):

I was as surprised as anyone else to get this special little present from the Bush Administration on my birthday (I hit the Big 4-0 today!) And, I'm still waiting for the inevitable negative response from the "But" Monkeys. "It's a very good step forward for the Bush Administration, but..."

Of course, that kind of partisan carping is inevitable, so we might as well ignore it.

Some interesting observations have come to mind in doing my reading this morning.

Iyad Illawi is saying some interesting things that bear out McQ and I on our opinions about how the Iraqis will be handling the security situation henceforth:

"We will be on the lookout for them and chase them and bring them to justice to get their fair punishment," he said.

In addition, he is calling them "infidels". That's an important word when used in an intra-Muslim context. It implies that they don't regard their enemies as fellow Muslims, which means they won't feel a lot of restraint about taking the fight to them. The Iraqis are a little PO'd about getting blown up by now, and I think they're keen to do a little blowing up of their own.

A lot of the critics are painting the situation in Iraq as a failure. There are insurgents still there and security in many places is fragile, so, we must be dropping the ball, big time. Of course, by that reasoning, every metropolitan police force is an abject failure, because, after all, we've had organized police forces for more than a century, and there's still crime in our cities. That kind of "reasoning" allows the critics to set the bar impossibly high, and it dismisses progress that doesn't meet their unreasonable expectations as abject failure. We need to recognize that as the pure partisan cant that it is.

Next, we have to accept that, whatever happens now, we will play an increasingly smaller role in events. It is the Iraqis' country, not our, and they have to build a society that suits them, and not us. This means that they are going to make some decisions we don't like. They may, in fact, tell us to sod off.

Good. That's precisely the thing we've been trying to give back to them after 30 years of Ba'athist terror.

We can't remake them into our own image, all we can do is give them a chance to rule their own affairs in a more consensual, democratic way. It sounds more and more like that is what the Iraqis are hungering for, and that they are, in the main, serious about getting it. If they do so, then we’ve done everything we possibly can.

Finally, the insurgents are being helpful, too, by shooting themselves in the foot. As an example, I would draw your attention to the fact that there is currently the matter of USMC Cpl Wassef Hassoun pending. Cpl Hassoun is a 24 year-old Muslim of Lebanese descent. It is important to note that being a fellow Muslim doesn't appear to be sparing him the prospect of a beheading at the hands of his captors. I can assure you that Iraqis will note this with keen interest. For all that the al-Qaida operatives go on about the sacred brotherhood of Islam, it's becoming increasingly clear in Iraq that being a Muslim doesn't go very far in sparing you when the al-Qaida boys strike their targets. And I strongly suspect that religious affinity won't spare the al-Qaida people when some Iraqi lance corporal has them centered in the peep sights.

So, now the Iraqis have their country back, legally at least. Now we'll see if they can keep it.

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