USA will have to withdraw from Iraq
The Baghdad Security Paln has been launched with great fanfare. The al Maliki Government and the Secretary Defence, Dr Robert Gates were both extremely optimistic about the success of this Plan. A week into the operation and six appache helicopters later the Plan has slowly, but surely, begun to get stuck. Let me state that the paln was well thought out and could have worked has certain basic conditions been met. First, there was need for the sectarian violence to be tamed through a political dialogue and this did not take palce. Second, as we pointed out earlier counter measures were being taken for the new kind of warfare that the Coalition had launched in Iraq. While it is clear that Iran stands to gain the most from the mess in Iraq, the US administration has irked Iran by raiding the embassies and by amking provocative public statements. Iran could have been asked to help contain the Shiaa Militias and there is every possibility that they would have obliged because chaos in Iraq is not in the long term interest of Iran.
One fact that is emerging quite clearly is that the Militias are not directly confronting the Iraqi and American forces. This maeans that the militamen simply vanish and reappear after the coast is clear. What is really worrisome is that weapon chaches have not been found in significant numbers. The plan of holding the territory after sweeping it clean of militants sounds good in theory but it is difficult to immplement it. Further the Iraqi forces taking part are all loyal to al Muqtadar, the radical cleric, and hence foredoomed to failure.