U.S. Cannot Control What Iraqis Do or Decisions They Make

One of the most frustrating problems with the Bush adventure in Iraq has been the absolute inability of Bubble-Boy and Dick "the Duck Hunter" Cheney to recognize that the United States cannot control what Iraqis do or what decisions they make. This problem is illustrated by an article that appeared in the Washington Post on Wednesday, September 12, 2007.

Here is a quote from that article:

A little over four years ago, when the Bush administration claimed its mission had been accomplished in Iraq, warnings that it would be hard and maybe impossible to remake Iraq were whispered only in the bowels of the State Department -- by Crocker, a career Foreign Service officer with long Middle East experience, among others. Diplomatic caution was dismissed as timid "clientism" from "Arabists" who were out of step with what the White House saw as the march of democracy in the region.

Now, of course, four years later, we understand that this so-called "march of democracy" depends on the Iraqis and the decisions they make. Now we are told that we can't leave Iraq because there will be sectarian violence that could kill hundred of thousands of Iraqis. Now we are told that only the Iraqis can decided if there will be reconciliation between Sunni and Shia Muslims. Now we are told that only the Iraqis can decide whether there will be a sharing of oil revenues, or whether local militias will be disarmed, or what the shape of a post-war Iraq will take.

The bottom line is that we have put over 160,000 American soldiers at risk because of decisions by Iraqis that we can't control. Does it make any sense to allow them to continue to be in that position?