The Next Four Years - Iraq

Now that G.W. Bush has won the election I figured it is appropriate to throw out some ideas on what the next four years have in store for us. I'll break this down into several posts, each dealing with a specific arena of US foreign policy.

Today's, in case you couldn't figure it out, deals with Iraq.

At the top of the agenda for Iraq right now is the offensive to pacify Falluja. Prime Minister Ayad Allawi has given the go-ahead to 'clean Falluja'. Reports have US and Iraqi forces in position and ready to move against the militants:

"We're going to start at one end of the city, and we're not going to stop until we get to the other," said Lt. Col. Pete Newell, a battalion commander from the U.S. Army's 1st Infantry Division.

"If there's anybody left when that happens, we're going to turn around and we're going to go back and finish it."

Now that G.W. is secure with his second term the US can deal with the militants without listening to the lecturing of the European and Arab press. The US is now free to inflict such a severe price on the militants that I would expect militant attacks throughout the country to fall off dramatically over the next several months.

The militants have relied upon the methods used by the Vietcong decades ago. Since a military victory was impossible they instead tried to subvert the war effort from within the US. With the re-election of G.W. Bush, this strategy is nothing but a ticket straight to hell given US military superiority on the field.

The militants, like any fighting force of the past, want to win. When faced with certain death and no hope of future success, odds are that they will melt away and return to the countries from which they came. Those who remain will be dealt with accordingly.

In regards to non-military progress Chrenkoff does the topic much more justice than I ever could. If such change was taking place in any other Arab country they'ld be calling it an Arab Renaissance.

Things of course could always go off track but all indicators point towards significant progress on all fronts.