Iraq War: Verge of collapse

Iraq War: Verge of collapse
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD

So here we are, four years into our war with Iraq, with no timeline for withdrawal. The world is not a safer place and (predictably) we haven't been able to stem the tides of terrorism. Funding the war with manpower and money is a growing and divisive issue. We are stuck in ways we've never been stuck before.

And that's just how things are going on our end.

Life for Iraqis is an unimaginable hell for those of us who get our information from snippets on the evening news and headlines that last only moments in our minds before being replaced by the things that drive our quotidian lives: Gas prices, student loans, the carb or fat content of our meals, mortgage rates and "American Idol."

Meanwhile, according to London-based Chatham House (a respected think tank also known as the Royal Institute of International Affairs), Iraq is on the verge of collapse and total fragmentation.

"There is not 'a' civil war in Iraq, but many civil wars and insurgencies involving a number of communities and organizations struggling for power," says the report, "Accepting Realities in Iraq," which uses numbers from multiple sources, including the latest report by the Brookings Institution.

For those who fretted and grimaced over the Iraqi parliament's plans to take a two-month break this summer, the Chatham report shines some light on that, too. It says that the Iraqi government has been "largely irrelevant" and powerless in large parts of the country. Perhaps the parliament is trying to signal that frustration by walking away from its job. So when Rep. Chris Shays, R-Conn., says, "If they go off on vacation for two months while our troops fight -- that would be the outrage of outrages," is he sure he's outraged about the right thing? If so, our list of outrages differs from his.

There's no way to remedy what's been done, what we've done, in Iraq. But there is a way to salvage what little is left of the country and of our own reputation in the world community.
Without a pullout deadline and absolutely no sign that the current administration will relent on the issue, Congress' only option is to hold tight to the purse strings, funding the war for only weeks at a time, thereby forcing all -- including itself -- to revisit the topic on a regular basis.
Improved relationships with Iran and Syria are also necessary. We didn't get into the war alone (thank you, Tony Blair) and can't hope to get out on the strength of our own bravado.