Ending the occupation of Iraq

By Libby

I'm fighting off the grog from too much sleep today and sloughing through the depressing news. I'm not finding much I feel like talking about but Zbigniew Brzezinski has an op-ed in the WaPo worth reading on how to end the Iraq occupation with some measure of grace. I thought this was his best point.

Contrary to Republican claims that our departure will mean calamity, a sensibly conducted disengagement will actually make Iraq more stable over the long term. The impasse in Shiite-Sunni relations is in large part the sour byproduct of the destructive U.S. occupation, which breeds Iraqi dependency even as it shatters Iraqi society. In this context, so highly reminiscent of the British colonial era, the longer we stay in Iraq, the less incentive various contending groups will have to compromise and the more reason simply to sit back. A serious dialogue with the Iraqi leaders about the forthcoming U.S. disengagement would shake them out of their stupor.

The truth is, no one can predict what effect withdrawing our military support would have on Iraq or the situation in the Middle East generally but it seems unlikely that it could be significantly worse than the all too apparent results our continued occupation is currently generating.

On a related note, I posted the funniest quote of the day at Newshoggers.