Iraq: Toward an Honorable Exit

by Phil Heft

Most Americans and Iraqis will agree that US policy toward Iraq needs to move in a new direction, and soon. Presently the US and UK governments seem not interested in exiting Iraq. As the quagmire continues, the peoples who are represented by these two governments will force them to consider an exit strategy. The US and UK governments must enter into direct negotiations with the groups in Iraq that are opposing them militarily. We must not be fooled into thinking that the chaos there is caused by a few insurgents. The opposition there is large and diverse and they are carrying on a full-scale war with two occupying powers.

What are the occupying powers responsibilities to the Iraqi people? First and foremost, it is to let Iraqis decide how they govern themselves and let them be stewards of their own natural resources and economy. True sovereignty cannot coexist with occupation, military or economic. A government formed under a military occupation of a foreign power will at worst be a puppet government and at best will be widely suspected of being a puppet government. In either case it will suffer from a lack of legitimacy.

Many Americans are searching for the right course for ourselves and for the Iraqi people, specifically how to responsibly disengage. I suggest that:

1. The US and UK must withdraw their military forces and reverse all the actions that have been taken to dominate and privatize the Iraqi economy. An exit by the occupying powers from Iraq is inevitable, and cost considerations alone suggest that it should come soon. The US and UK must enter into negotiations with the opposition groups in Iraq to start the process. During the period of withdrawal, UN peacekeeping forces, independent of US/UK control, must be made available to the Iraqi people in order to maintain order. Careful arrangements must be made to protect Iraqis that have been working with the occupying powers.

2. The US and UK should fund the subsequent reconstruction but not otherwise be engaged directly in it. The rebuilding effort should employ and benefit Iraqis and their industries and institutions. Societal stability in Iraq cannot be achieved without a viable Iraqi economy and infrastructure.

The need for rebuilding is magnified by the fact that the First Gulf War leveled Iraq's civilian infrastructure. And for twelve years, 1991-2003, the US and UK insisted, through the UN, on maintaining strict economic sanctions on Iraq. UN reports and the words of the UN's own in-country representatives recount the tragic effects of these sanctions. By 1999, UNICEF reported that the sanctions had contributed to half a million Iraqi children's deaths. The allotment of $15 to $20 per month per person provided by the UN's oil-for-food program helped only marginally. The injuries and deaths of Gulf War II, the hazards of unexploded US and UK cluster bombs and radiological weapons debris, and now enduring chaos add to the picture of a devastated Iraq, and to the responsibility of the US and the UK to fully fund the rebuilding.