The US ‘Surge’ as a Collaborative Corrective for Iraq

Abstract

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes 1. Said in June 2005. BBC News, ‘The state of Iraq's security forces’, 11 December 2006. 2. Dan Murphy, ‘New commander, new plan in Iraq’, Christian Science Monitor Online, 11 February 2007. 3. Yahoo News and AP, ‘Report finds Iraqi government precarious’, 23 August 2007. 4. Mark Kukis, ‘At Baghdad's ground zero’, Time Online, 19 January 2007. 5. BBC News ‘Iraqi forces “ready by mid-2007”’, 3 December 2006. 6. Scott Johnson, ‘Ministers of death’, Newsweek International, 13 November 2006, pp. 38–40. 7. Hamza Hendawi, ‘Brittle bond: Iraqi sheikh joins US fight’, Yahoo News, 13 October 2007. For instance, tension has resulted from US soldiers shooting CLC militiamen unknowingly. One militiaman commented, ‘Such acts will create a gap between us and the Americans. We are trying to restore security in the area while they are killing us.’ Katarina Kratovac, ‘Knowing the enemy difficult in Iraq’, Yahoo News, 8 October 2007. 8. For instance, one former Sunni insurgent belonging to the Fursan Al-Rafidain (Knights of Mesopotamia) presently allied with Americans commented, ‘At the beginning, people saw it as an occupation which had to be resisted. But then they saw that the Americans were working in the interests of the people.’ BBC News, ‘Sunni militia brings calm to Baghdad area’, 18 December 2007. The ‘interests of the people’ can be taken to mean using the US as leverage to strengthen Sunni positions against Shia parties and militias. 9. Petraeus thus argued: ‘There is no military solution to a problem like that in Iraq, to the insurgency in Iraq. Military action is necessary … but it is not sufficient.’ Haaretz, ‘US general: Force alone won't end the violence in Iraq’, 8 March 2007. 10. Gates thus argued: ‘The issue that we're all trying to figure out is how best do you get the Iraqis to reconcile their differences … this is not going to be solved by the military. It has to involve political reconciliation in Iraq, among Iraqis. We're basically buying them time.’ Steven R. Hurst, ‘US troop deaths show Sunni resilience’, Yahoo News, 18 March 2007. 11. Diaa Hadid, ‘Iraqi gov't pledges to disband Sunnis’, Yahoo News, 23 December 2007. 12. For instance, retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez commented that the US effort in Iraq is presently a ‘nightmare with no end in sight’ because of US political misjudgements rather than its military policies. Steven Komarow, ‘Ex-general: “No end in sight” in Iraq’, Yahoo News, 13 October 2007. 13. Joe Klein, ‘Operation Last Chance’, Time, 9 July 2007, pp. 19–23. See p 22. 14. Iraqi Defense Minister Abdul-Qader Al-Obeidi summed this up well regarding the Sunni communities vis-à-vis Al-Qa'ida: ‘The awakening movement was a response to Al-Qa'ida in Iraq trying to prevent Sunnis from entering the political process … The Sunni's response was an uprising, represented by the awakening group. Now that Al-Qa'ida has largely been marginalised in certain areas, Sunnis are entering the political arena. We will see a definite change soon because there is nobody now standing between them and the rest of the Iraq people.’ Bradley Brooks, ‘Sunni fighters need political role’, Yahoo News, 23 December 2007. 15. Larry Diamond, James Dobbins, Chaim Kaufmann, Leslie H Gelb and Stephen Biddle, ‘What to do in Iraq: A Roundtable’, Foreign Affairs, July/August 2006. 16. Larry Diamond, James Dobbins, Chaim Kaufmann, Leslie H Gelb and Stephen Biddle, ‘What to do in Iraq: A Roundtable’, Foreign Affairs, July/August 2006. 17. Darrin Mortenson, ‘America's new Shia Allies’, Time Online, 11 October 2007. 18. Robinson, op. cit., p. 147. Note that these summary points largely mirror those of Robinson's except for his fifth point. 19. Mark Urban, ‘Fragile success for US Iraq surge’, BBC News, 10 December 2007. Additional informationNotes on contributorsMatthew B. ArnoldMatthew B Arnold is a postgraduate research student in the Department of International Relations, London School of Economics.