US-Diplomacy-Iraq War

US - Iraq Policy - Need for a GCC Led Initiative

Introduction

The Iraq War is the most critical challenge to United States policy today and is likely to stay so in the years ahead . United States has long term interests in the Middle East therefore America cannot just hope to leave Iraq without a corresponding impact on relationships beyond Baghdad (Baker III , Hamilton , 2007 . While the situation in Iraq has been serious for the past few years , there is a decrease in violence especially after the surge plan effectively implemented by Patreus and

br the US forces . However military success will not guarantee lasting peace in the region . There is thus a need for alternate policy which can bring about positive transformation in Iraq

Direct intervention by the United States in the Middle East has seldom brought viable results , however when ever the US has engaged with a coalition of partners particularly comprising of states of the region it has succeeded in finding solutions to the challenges . Involvement of regional groupings may even allow the US to be a benign supporter rather than an active interventionist . One such regional organization is the Gulf Cooperation Council which can spearhead change in Iraq

Need for Review of Iraq Policy

US diplomacy in Iraq has been the cause of much debate and concern over the past few years ever since America undertook the enterprise of freeing Iraqi people from the tyrannical reign of Saddam Hussein . This policy though steered by some highly erudite secretaries of state as Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice has not met with success so far (Tirman , 2007 . Thus the challenge is not the people who are running the policy or the way they are doing it , but the policy per se . The Iraq study group has strongly recommended a review of the American policy diplomatic as well as political in the region along with a host of other measures to stabilize the State caught in a complex insdimensions (Baker III , Hamilton , 2007 . Thus change of policy is inevitable

United States has a responsibility towards Iraq and its people in providing them a better future thereby restoring credibility of America not just in the Middle East but also in other parts of the World . Given that global power dynamics rests on the fulcrum of the United States success or failure in Iraq would have much larger global or regional impact (Baker III , Hamilton , 2007 . The domestic effect of a breakdown in Iraq would also be severe with loss of morale and possibly increased isolationism which will be detrimental to American society and the people . With the present policy caught in a stasis , there is no option but to evolve a viable alternative

The Policy Action Proposed

The domestic equations in Iraq are invariably affected by regional relations within the Middle East (Baker III , Hamilton , 2007 . Iraq in many ways represents the aspirations as well as the confrontation within people and societies in the region . Thus the Shia - Sunni divide or Arab-non Arab...