Iraq's first truly democratic government turned out to be hopelessly feeble and fractured, little more than a collection of ministries handed over to various parties, militias and strongmen.
The problem is not, as we endlessly argue about, the number of American troops. Or of Iraqi troops. The problem is the allegiance of the Iraqi troops. Some serve the abstraction called Iraq. But many swear fealty to political parties, religious sects or militia leaders.
I am not pessimistic as Krauthammer is, though I used the same Franklin reference in an earlier post.
The divisions within Iraq aren't the problem. Indeed, the divisions could be what ensures a democracy by denying any one faction a majority to ram government policies through a structure of democracy that benefits just that faction and denies the benefits of self-government to the minority. If coalitions between the major groups are necessary to win passage of legislation and support for policies, the groups can learn negotiating habits.
The problem is that the factions right now use bullets rather than ballots to settle their differences.
This is a political problem and our military is a shield behind which the Iraqi government must strengthen its capacity to govern. We are trying to get the Iraqi military to stand nearly on its own as that shield. Eventually, the Iraqi government must get the Sunnis and Sadr boys in the Shia community to stop killing each other. They don't have to like each other or vote for each other--just stop shooting at each other.
If these two parties stop fighting, cleaning up the jihadis and criminals will be child's play by comparison.
Don't mistake continued fighting for losing. Until we win, we must fight. That's the way wars go.
