last january, just before the iraqi election, a zogby poll found that a clear majority of iraqis wanted the u.s. to immediately withdraw from the country. indeed, the united iraqi alliance's party platform originally called for a timetable to withdraw foreign forces from iraq. the UIA was the big winner in the january 30th elections, but a couple of days before before the vote, the party quietly deleted that line from it's platform without telling anyone. it was a nice bait-and-switch on the iraqi public, but in the end they may live to regret it. the reason why they were so sneaky about it is precisely because they knew that a pullout is very popular in iraq.
if there ever is a real democratic government in iraq, one that really reflects the views of the iraqi public, it would almost certainly demand that u.s. forces leave the country. so maybe it's a good sign that 82 members of the iraqi parliament, including UIA party members, are now publicly demanding the withdrawal of american troops. it's a good sign because it suggests that these UIA MPs expect to be held accountable for their flip-flop.
a truly democratic and sovereign country will inevitably disagree with the u.s. president on some policy issue. the only way to resolve the clash is to either have the president compromise on his policies or have iraq compromise on on its sovereignty and democracy. the clash is coming. it's inevitable. the more i think about it, the more i am sure that the resolution of that issue will decide whether iraq was a success or failure. if the u.s. backs down and tolerates an iraq that does not always do what it wants, i would be willing to call it a success. i'm just not sure that the present administration is willing to allow that kind of success to happen.
UPDATE: J-Lo mentioned in the comments this quote from richard clarke:
Maybe it is time to at least begin a public dialogue about "staying the course." Opponents of an "early" departure of American forces say it would result in chaos in Iraq. Yet we already have chaos, and how sure can we be that sectarian fighting will not follow our departure whenever we leave? Is it unpatriotic to ask if the major reason for the fighting in Iraq is that we are still there?it's not exactly the same as what this post was about (clarke is asking about withdrawal from the american side, not the iraqi side, of the fence). but the questions clarke is asking of americans are similar to the ones that iraqis will be asking of their own government when they debate whether u.s. forces should stay.
