Experts ponder future of Iraq

[laststeamtrain]

Experts ponder future of Iraq



By BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic Writer Fri Sep 7

WASHINGTON - This capital's absorption with the war in Iraq is prompting former senior officials and ex-generals to look beyond the debate over whether U.S. troops should be withdrawn to ways in which the United States might bolster the battered Mideast country.

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Keane suggested keeping 60,000 U.S. troops in Iraq after cutbacks in 2008 and 2009, while former Defense Secretary William J. Perry said he would get down to 30,000 to 40,000 by the end of next year in order to "restore our ground forces to a high degree of readiness" around the world.

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Among the evidence offered by Keane, a retired four-star general now at the American Enterprise Institute, was that sectarian killings are down 75 percent from last year.

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Michael O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institution, appearing at the AEI panel discussion Thursday, dusted off his proposal for a "soft partition" of Iraq into three autonomous regions, Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish. But he said some 150,000 U.S. troops would be needed for the several years to implement the idea, which he conceded was a long shot.

There is support, meanwhile, for new elections in Iraq, but it could take two or three years to organize. Another option under discussion among analysts is holding an international peace conference.

A strong supporter of Bush administration policy and the surge in U.S. troops, Frederick W. Kagan of AEI said there has been "unambiguous military success" in the last few months.

He said U.S. troops were intensifying their attacks on Iranian-backed insurgents and that "we will have to see how the Iranians respond."

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070907/ap_on_go_co/us_iraq_armchair_analysts_1

[Hydra]

1. Gee! Sounds like what Bush is pushing

Must be nice to have "experts" back you up any time you have a bad idea to sell.

[moondust]

2. You mean Iranq?