'Just World News' with Helena Cobban

CSM column on Iraqification

You can now find my CSM column dated for Thursday November 13. It's here. In it, I argue:

Vietnamization, like Iraqification, was accompanied by a lot of rhetoric about "democratization. "But because it was rushed, politically driven, and pursued unilaterally by the US according to US timetables, Vietnamization was a dangerous fiasco for most of the people of Vietnam and helped usher in the period of abusive communist rule that followed. It "succeeded" only in that it helped Nixon win reelection in 1972.

In Iraq, the stakes are even higher than they were in Vietnam. That's why a botched "Iraqification" that is pursued nearly unilaterally by a rushed, politically driven US is in the interest of absolutely no one. But I truly don't think that a successful Iraqification can happen if Washington continues trying to do it under its own almost unilateral control.

For everyone's sake, the UN has to be invited to take over this vital process. The UN alone - not NATO, not the present US-led coalition - has the international legitimacy, and can command the international resources that are needed to get this job done.