The Iraq Dilemma: Do it Right or Quick?
WASHINGTON — President Bush has proclaimed two highly ambitious goals for the U.S. occupation of Iraq in the next six months: to crush the anti-American insurgency and then, on June 30, to transfer sovereignty to a still-unformed Iraqi government.
To do so, Bush and his right-hand man in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer III, must make a series of crucial decisions that may determine whether the U.S. invasion is remembered as a triumph or as the overreach of an arrogant superpower.
Underlying almost every choice is a basic dilemma: Is it more important to do Iraq "right" -- to make sure stability and democracy take firm root -- or to do it "quick," before the majority of both Iraqis and American voters decide that the occupation has become too great a burden?
Both options require maintaining a large contingent of troops in Iraq to establish the groundwork for the fledgling government and then protect it. Bush has even left himself the option of temporarily increasing the number of troops if necessary.
"The president wants to do it right," Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage said in an interview last week. "And that's why
However, others inside and outside the administration worry that in an election year, pressure will mount to draw down troops more quickly.
Some in the administration "want to get Iraq right, and that group [needs] a longer time frame," said Brent Scowcroft, who served as national security advisor to former President George H.W. Bush. "At the other extreme, there are some whose goal is to get Iraq off the front pages by August."
By any standard, the election-year timetable for Iraqi sovereignty is brisk.
By Feb. 28, the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council is supposed to produce a temporary constitution, the "Fundamental Law." A month after that, the council and the U.S. military are scheduled to conclude an agreement allowing American troops to remain in the country long-term.
Meanwhile, caucuses in Iraq's 18 provinces are slated to choose members of a new transitional legislative assembly by May 31. The assembly is supposed to meet in June, appoint a new prime minister and, on June 30, officially assume sovereignty as the interim government of Iraq.
Can all that be done in six months? Even some top officials acknowledge that there will be loose ends, and that the new Iraqi government's sovereignty still will rest on a foundation of U.S. military force and money.
