Charleston Post and Courier : Politicians jeopardize surge success

Politicians jeopardize surge success

December 8, 2007

To quote Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, the Iraqi government in Baghdad "must seize this opportunity to try to consolidate this fragile peaceful situation that has developed." Our troops, through the surge planned by Gen. David Petraeus, have delivered the breathing space that Iraqi politicians said they needed to achieve reconciliation, but the long-sought political solution is stymied by political bickering and legislators' lack of urgency. Parliament took another vacation Thursday, suspending sessions until the end of the month.

Following up on the visit of Mr. Negroponte, who was speaking on the PBS "NewsHour," Defense Secretary Robert Gates had a similar message. According to The Associated Press, Mr. Gates told the government of President Nuri al-Maliki Wednesday that the Iraqi people are getting impatient, and that the politicians "need to get on with legislation and sending the message to the rest of their people that they can work together. My hope is that will produce some results fairly soon in some of these key legislative areas."

The key legislative areas are the de-Bathification law that would re-integrate into society thousands of Iraqis who nominally served the Saddam Hussein regime and have been made outcasts; the passing of laws to ensure that oil revenue will be shared fairly and also establish the framework for the exploitation of Iraq's huge reserves; and holding provincial elections to provide representation for the large number of Sunnis who boycotted national elections.

The success of the military surge has raised hopes that must not be dashed by political failure. Secretary Gates noted that with violence at the lowest level in nearly two years, displaced Iraqis are returning in the thousands, foreign investment is increasing, and Iraqi civilians are volunteering to protect their neighborhoods and fight al-Qaida. But progress in the provinces, where tribal leaders are cooperating with U.S. forces, is not being matched by the central government

In an interview with The Boston Globe, Sen. John McCain provided an insight that helps to explain the political impasse in Baghdad. He said that he had personally witnessed sectarian squabbling among the country's leaders and referred to the "Byzantine" legislative process. "They've got something like 41 ministers in their government. Who designed that?" he said.

As an illustration of Sen. McCain's observation, there was a fracas in parliament Thursday between a Shiite lawmaker and a leading Sunni Arab politician who accused each other of inciting sectarian killings.

It must be frustrating for Gen. Petraeus to see military achievements in bringing down car bombings and suicide attacks by 60 percent since March and in improving security going to waste because of political discord.

Gen. Petraeus reminded reporters that al-Qaida is still a very dangerous adversary and that the terrorist organization is likely to stage spectacular attacks to counter the surge's success.

Iraq's politicians should cherish the current "fragile peaceful situation" and take advantage of it to work for political stability.