home > by publication type > op-eds > Sects Maniac
Email
| Author: | Peter Beinart |
|---|
January 22, 2007
The New Republic
When will we finally take no for an answer? In December, Bush administration officials began talking about a surge of U.S.troops to Baghdad to create the military conditions for political reconciliation. Such an effort, they said, would only succeed if Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki reached courageously across sectarian lines, disarming the Shia militias that buttress his government and sharing political power with Iraq’s beleaguered Sunnis. “If the Iraqi government does not follow through on its promises,” President Bush declared when he unveiled the surge plan to the nation, “it will lose the support of the American people.”
And, since December, here’s what Maliki has done: First, his aides told reporters that he didn’t want any more U.S. troops in Baghdad. To the contrary, he wanted all U.S. troops out of Iraq’s capital. Maliki, it turned out, had a plan of his own. Iraqi troops would attack Sunni insurgents only, while ignoring the Shia militias. In other words, in a city increasingly cleansed of Sunnis and run by Moqtada Al Sadr’s brutal Mahdi army, Maliki would hasten the job.
American officials threatened and cajoled, and Maliki supposedly backed down. But, at a January 11 press conference where he was expected to endorse Bush’s surge, Maliki didn’t show up. Instead, a spokesman told the press that Iraq’s government “will not stand against it” before adding that “what is suitable for our conditions inIraq is what we decide, not what others decide for us.”
To order Task Force reports, Council Special Reports, and Critical Policy Choices, please call, fax, or order online from our distributor, the Brookings Institution Press: phone +1.800.537.5487, fax +1.410.516.6998.
For information on other reports that are not for sale, or for general publications information, please call +1.212.434.9516 or email publications@cfr.org.
Start-Up Nation addresses the trillion-dollar question: How is it that Israel—a country of 7.1 million, only sixty years old, surrounded by enemies— produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada, and the UK? With the insights of geopolitical experts and investors, the authors examine this nation’s adversity-driven culture to answer this question and offer prescriptions for a global economy on the rebound.
In Forces of Fortune, Vali Nasr presents a paradigm-changing revelation that will transform the understanding of the Muslim world at large. He reveals that there is a vital but unseen rising force in the Islamic world—a new business-minded middle class—that is building a vibrant new Muslim world economy and that holds the key to winning the cold war against Iran and extremists.
In Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know, Julia E. Sweig presents a remarkably accessible portrait of Cuba's unique place on the world stage over the past fifty years, including its internal politics, its often fraught relationship with the United States, and its shifting relationship with the global community.
Complete list of CFR Books
Copyright 2009 by the Council on Foreign Relations. All Rights Reserved.