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Former U.S. Ambassador 'Peter Galbraith', author
lays out reality of Iraq
24.1.2007 |
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January 24, 2007
MONTPELIER, Vermonter, -- The U.S. military
strategy in Iraq will not unify a divided country
and boosting the number of troops will only put more
U.S. soldiers on the front lines of a dangerous
civil war, a former ambassador and author on the
Iraq war told lawmakers Tuesday.
"The alternative that we're now embarked upon not
only is not going to work but is greatly escalating,
not just the number of troops but the war itself, by
bringing us in conflict with the Shiite majority,''
which is supported by Iran, said Peter Galbraith, a
former ambassador to Croatia and author of "The End
of Iraq.''
Galbraith, who lives in Townshend, and investigated
the Iraqi use of chemical weapons against the Kurds
in the 1980s, said the U.S. lacks information about
the country and therefore its policy is flawed.
The history of Iraq and the fundamental divisions
among a stable Kurdish region, a Shiite area and a
Sunni- and Shiite-divided Baghdad, is a roadblock to
stabilizing the country, Galbraith said. |
Former U.S. State
Department Official, Peter Galbraith |
"Unless you can make these people into (unified)
Iraqis, a strategy that involves U.S. stabilizing
Baghdad and handing off to Iraqis is never going to
work and of course there is no way that we can
transform them into something that they are not,''
he said.
If the U.S. can accept that the country is divided,
and stop trying to engage in nation building,
there's no reason for the U.S. occupation in
southern Iraq or in Baghdad, where the U.S. cannot
stop the civil war, he said.
"Yes if we withdraw there will be horrific sectarian
killing and if we stay there will be horrific
sectarian killing,'' he said.
Galbraith recommended the U.S. maintain a residual
force in the stable Kurdistan region.
The former ambassador to Croatia, who was invited to
the Statehouse by House Speaker Gaye Symington, said
the war is on the forefront of Vermonters' minds.
"I think there's a special poignancy here in Vermont
to the Iraq issue by the simple fact that we have
suffered more casualties per capita than any other
state,'' he said.
Galbraith, who said he has visited Iraq for 23
years, and works as a consultant for ABC News, said
the war was started by individuals who had an
ideological belief that they could transform Iraq,
and the entire Middle East, but knew little about
the region.
He predicted a change of presidents would be needed
before U.S. strategy changes.
"It's clear that we have launched a war and lost
it,'' he said. "And we have no strategy to reverse
that, but the president is not prepared to face up
to that fact and he has said very openly that (he)
intends to leave the issue to his successor.''
AP
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