Reality over perception needed for Iraq success

" 'The administration has been so focused on perception that it has frequently missed the point' of Iraq's complex realities, says Qubad Talabani, Washington representative of the Kurdistan Regional Government. 'If how it looks in Washington becomes more important than how it works out in Baghdad, we all lose.'
That is a caution that applies to war critics who insist on unrealistic benchmarks or deadlines as well as to war supporters who insist on Bush's freedom of action. Both tend to overestimate U.S. ability to manage withdrawal -- or escalation -- on its own terms, relegating Iraqis and others in the region to the status of bit players in an American political drama.
The addition of 17,500 troops into Baghdad that Bush announced Jan. 10 smacked initially of being another gimmick, of resembling an exit-covering escalation, as in an old Western where the gunslinger backs out the saloon door with guns blazing.
But the impression of impending crisis has either prompted or helped Maliki to develop a political initiative of his own to accompany the surge -- and has encouraged U.S. officials to give him more room to maneuver."

By Washington Post columnist Jim Hoagland

source
Hoagland, Jim. (The Washington Post). Desperation Helps Out In Baghdad. March 4, 2007.

posted: tuesday, march 6, 2007, 5:32 PM ET

tags: iraq surge