The Arab League solution

"PRESIDENT BUSH seems not to have noticed, but what stands between hostile sectarian forces and the resumption of all-out civil war in Lebanon is the Arab League, whose diplomacy 17 years ago put an end to a conflict in which tens of thousands of Lebanese died. Is there not a lesson here, for the president and the Democratic Congress, that is applicable to Iraq?
. . . The Arab League’s Baghdad offices are recognized by the Shiite government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, has strongly supported Iraq’s involvement with the Arab League. Amr Moussa, the Arab League’s secretary general, has had an open door not just to Iraqi officials but also to Moktada al-Sadr, the radical Shiite leader, and to Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the country’s most powerful cleric, who has never received an American official. The Iraqi foreign minister, a Kurd, has participated regularly in Arab League meetings.
To be sure, the Arab League cannot offer miracles. . . . But with an invitation from the American president, it could immediately get to work at mediating the conflict."

Op-ed by Milton Viorst

source
Viorst, Milton. (The New York Times). January 30, 2007. A League of Their Own.

posted: thursday, february 1, 2007, 3:22 AM ET

tags: iraq milton viorst arab league

The "let them fight it out" solution

"In historical context, the country [Iraq] is not much different from others that have emerged from decades of dictatorship and tried to sort out a new political status quo among multiple competing ethnic groups. Yugoslavia began to break down in 1991; despite repeated Western interventions, the bloodshed continued until the end of the decade. The wars over Congo's future began in 1994 with the end of the Mobuto dictatorship and didn't end until 2003. Lebanon's civil war began in 1976 and ended in 1989.
As the behavior of the Maliki government and its Sunni enemies has made painfully clear, Iraq is nearer the beginning than the end of its sorting out. Each of the main sides -- Shiite, Sunni and Kurd -- remains convinced that it can impose its sectarian agenda by force. . . . Until all are convinced that they have exhausted the option of force, there will be no settlement.
If Iraq is like the rest of the post-Cold War world, this will take six to 12 years, not six to 12 months. Not only is the United States unlikely to speed up the resolution of the conflict, it may even slow a resolution down, by acting as a buffer or co-combatant -- as did U.N. troops in Bosnia, Syrian forces in Lebanon and the armies of multiple African states in Congo."

source
The Washington Post. War Against Time. January 8, 2007. (columnist Jackson Diehl).

posted: friday, january 12, 2007, 8:27 AM ET
update: friday, january 12, 2007, 10:38 AM ET

tag: iraq

Middle East bypassing America to find own Iraq solution

"For many of the Middle East's leaders, the upshot of the swirling American debate over Iraq is that when, as seems likely, the US withdraws it will leave behind an ongoing war.
So the region's powers - US allies Jordan, Israel, and Saudi Arabia, and its foes Syria and Iran - are engaging in new diplomatic efforts, largely aimed at preventing Iraq's fighting from causing broader turmoil.
While in some cases the talks are only tangentially about Iraq, this high-level dialogue appears to reflect a new reality: With US prestige crippled by the war, regional actors are bypassing the West to forge partnerships and find solutions on their own.
. . . Their current maneuvers, talking with disaffected former Baathists in their capitals and, regional diplomats say, quietly passing money to Sunni insurgent groups in Iraq in an effort to build up influence and intelligence aren't particularly likely to end Iraq's war soon.
But they could find a way to contain the violence there and the regional animosities it is threatening to inflame, or set the stage for Iraq to become a proxy battle ground."

source
The Christian Science Monitor. Mideast leaders seek their own solutions for region. December 22, 2006.

song
Iraq, Iraq

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posted: monday, december 25, 2006, 7:55 PM ET
update: monday, december 25, 2006, 8:01 PM ET

tags: iraq middle east solution withdrawal proxy