Halting Iraq's descent
into chaos
Violence is forcing changes in strategy
It seems that the United States and its allies were blinded by possibilities in Iraq: freeing the Iraqi people of a brutal regime; ensuring that a hostile dictator did not possess weapons of mass destruction; and creating a democratic government in the Middle East. The US-led coalition was determined to pursue those ambitious objectives despite a lack of broad support for pre-emptive military action and warnings that state-building would be fraught with difficulties. Those have now become painfully clear and the lofty aims have given way to a desperate effort to arrest a downward spiral towards chaos across much of the country.
Hope has been eroded among Iraqis by the collapse of institutions, the coalition’s lack of preparation, a vicious hybrid insurgency, hostile external influences, the partial fragmentation of society into competing armed groups and the Iraqi government’s inability to foster reconciliation. The will to persevere appears to be diminishing among coalition nations and the international community – a perception reinforced by the outcome of the US mid-term elections. The coalition and Iraqis both want the occupation to end but there is agreement that a premature withdrawal of forces would be likely to lead to an even more devastating civil war that could destabilise the entire region.
