IRAQ’S SUPREME WAR COUNCIL
American President George W. Bush made a surprise visit to Iraq on 09/03/2007. George W. Bush was accompanied with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, National Security Adviser Steven Hadley and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
In al-Asad Air Force base, West of Baghdad in Anbar province, Bush met with Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, U.S. ambassador to Baghdad Ryan Crocker, Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki and his senior staff and some Sunni tribal sheiks who recently began to cooperate with USA against Al Qaeda. The USA President’s surprise visitwas a unique opportunity to gather all the key figures that run the war in Iraq for a comprehensive assessment of the situation.
The announcement of the radical Shiia’ cleric Moqtada Sadr from 08/29/2007 that his “Mahdi Army” militia will freeze its activities for six months will, no doubt, ease the sectarian violence between Shiites and Sunnis in Iraq and provide for the next future new opportunities. USA forces will be, now, freer to tackle Al Qaeda which is the main cause of Shiite-Sunnite confrontation in Iraq. But, in Iraq, as it was in Vietnam, all achievements are short lived. (see- IRAQ – VIETNAM )
That new situation is directed from Iran in accordance to the new IRANIAN foreign-policy .
The main dilemmas for USA are:
A. How to cope with the growing IRANIAN influence in Iraq.
B. If and how to proceed with the pretension to turn Iraq to a functioning Democracy.
C. Is the idea of three Iraqi states: Kurdistan, Sunni Iraq and Shiite Iraq with a confederative political structure a possible solution to Iraqi sectarian violence.
D. What will be the impact of USA policy in Iraq on its Arab Sunni allies, especially Saudi Arabia.
E. How will the public opinion, in the year of presidential election in USA, respond to the situation – any situation, in Iraq.
Whatever the decisions about Iraq will be, it is clear that there are no simple answers, it will take few more years and the situation in Iraq is much more depend on decisions taken in Tehran then those taken by President Bush.
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