Its been 4 long years since the US moved their troops to Iraq. And sadly, each and every moment spend on the blood-soaked soil has been eventful in a not so good way, neither for the Iraqis nor for the US. At the end of the 4 years, the Bush administration is trying to revive its strategy.
What is the new strategy?
Well, not so surprisingly, the new strategy is very similar to their existing one- military control. Mr. Bush is publicly declaring that the US has settled on a strategy for victory - a troop increase that is supposed to open political space for Sunnis and Shiites to live and govern together - even while his top aides acknowledge the difficulties in execution of this strategy, especially given past failures.
The next step?
To put in place this new strategy Bush and his top aides are on a lookout for a high-level coordinator capable of cutting through military, political and reconstruction strategies that have never operated in sync, in Washington or in Baghdad. Trying to draw on past experiences, Stephen J. Hadley, the national security adviser confirmed that he had been sounding out retired military commanders to assess their interest in a job where they would report directly to President Bush.
He told New York Times
One of the things that we’ve heard from Republicansand Democrats is that we need to go a step further in Washington and have a single point of focus, someone who can work 24/7 on the Washington end of executing the strategy we’ve put in place for the next 22 months while we’ve had plans and due dates and stoplight charts, what we need is someone with a lot of stature within the government who can make things happen. That official would deal daily with the new American ambassador in Iraq, Ryan C. Crocker, and the new commander, Gen. David H. Petraeus, and then ‘call any cabinet secretary and get problems resolved, fast
Is there someone willing to take on the most thankless job in Washington?
This remains the biggest hurdle to the execution of the new US plan- actually finding someone willing to try and perform this dirty job. The New York Times reports that Mr. Hadley says he has not yet brought top candidates into the White House for formal interviews. But what he is seeking is someone willing to take on, at the end of a war-weary administration, one of the most thankless jobs in Washington: overseeing policy in Iraq and ,Afghanistan where the administration has discovered that changing regimes was a lot easier than changing habits.
This job was earlier the duty of US National Security Advisor, currently being Mr Hadley. However, while initially that approach had worked, things have gotten so complicated now that both Hadley and Bush believe that finding the right coordinator might put their policies on the right track.
Why so?
The military, political and reconstruction efforts in Iraq have been failing. Not only have there been apparent rifts between high level officials, but also there is a total lack of coordination by senior administration sitting in Iraq.
The rift between senior officials was apparent earlier this year when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the new defense secretary, Robert M. Gates, openly clashed on the question of who would provide the personnel for new Provincial Reconstruction Teams that were charged with trying, once again, to rebuild Iraq.
As for the second problem, the proofthe Iraq Study Group that turned out its recommendations in December for revamping strategy. The report cited
a lack of coordination by senior management in Washington, declaring that focus, priority setting, and skillful implementation are in short supply.
Bottom Line
Whether they will find someone adequately qualified, and even if they do whether that will work is full of questions. The answer is not as simple as finding one person who can coordinate and the work is done! The US must at the same time re-review its policies, keep updating their actions according to the need of the hour, and finally be more responsive to the needs of the masses. The US may never be able to fully recover, but with administrative efficiency, and with humanitarian consideration, they stand the bleak chance of saving face internationally.
Via: NYT
