How to get out of Iraq Peter Galbraith New York Review of Books  

Peter W. Galbraith

* served as the first US Ambassador to Croatia and with the United Nations in East Timor

* staff member Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the 1980s, uncovered & documented Iraq's "Anfal" campaign against Kurds

* senior diplomatic fellow: Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation

e.g. Bush's focus on Iraq leaves us vulnerable Baltimore Sun > Erik Floden > September 17, 2003

* partner in a firm specializing in international law and negotiation.

 

Must read for anyone puzzling over Iraq Crisis.

The answer is here.

But there are questions:

(1) Why weren't measures put into place before the invasion to prevent senior Ba'ath officials scooting to Syria and Jordan ?

(2) After 12 months why still no mechanism in place to try worst offenders ?

Galbraith's answer seems to be

(1) Loose confederation with U.S. bases in Iraqi Kurdistan - since Kurds are happy to have U.S. bases.

(2) If so, then Baghdad would be the ideal place for the U.N. to police, rather than the prospect of a Cyprus or Beirut style green-line division.

(3) How a central government could operate within confederation is an open question.  ¶ Friday, May 07, 2004