Allawi predicts Iraq civil war due to lack of American vision

Iraq's former interim Prime Minister and American sympathizer, Iyad Allawi, has stated that Iraq is trundling towards a civil war that will negatively impact the rest of the world if the Iraq crisis is not resolved soon. When interviewed during a visit to Amman last week, Allawi told The Sunday Times that the lack of vision and clear policy by the United Stated is the problem, he went on to say

“The policy should be of building national unity in Iraq. Without this we will most certainly slip into a civil war. We are practically in stage one of a civil war as we speak.”

According to Allawi, he'd discussed the growing dissention and need to build Iraq's own military with Bush and Rummy last year and had received a promise of $5.7 B in aid and has yet to receive any of the funds. This does not bode well for BushCo's stated plans to transition responsibility of Iraq's security back in a timely fashion, especially considering an insurgency Dick Cheney states may last up to 12 years.

His experience as prime minister had taught him that “force alone will not solve the problems in Iraq”. It needed to be combined with dialogue and money to ensure stability.

However, Allawi insisted the Americans’ presence in Iraq was still required and rejected suggestions that a schedule should be drawn up for their withdrawal. “I cannot see withdrawal based on timing, but based on conditions,” he said. These would be satisfied only once Iraq “develops the capability to deal with threats”.

Even Allawi indicates that US troops would not be able to pull out until a coalition government has been established and they are capable of dealing with internal and external threats, and that continued instability makes Iraq an excellent breeding ground for terrorists who will strike at Europe and the US. His statements come on the heels of a CIA report that clearly states the war makes Iraq an exemplary training ground for terrorism which will continue (and continue to improve training) as the insurgency continues unabate, an Iran-Iraq military cooperation agreement & intel reports note that North Korea is helping Iran out with its nuclear program.

The Republicans are right, the Iraq war is not Viet Nam - it has the potential to be so much worse.

Tags: politics; Iraq War; Bush Administration; Foreign Policy; BBA; Downing Street Memorandum; terrorism; Rumsfeld; North Korea; Iran; nuclear proliferation

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