A Workable Plan for Withdrawal?

Last year Jim McGovern, Congressman from Massachusetts, formed the Task Force for a Responsible Withdrawal from Iraq Organizing Committee. The task force has issued their report, which is quite brief but also sensible. Here is the report.

To make its intentions clear prior to withdrawal, the United States can and should:

• Seek a short-term renewal of the UN mandate instead of a bilateral US-Iraqi security agreement.

• Announce support for a new UN mandate to take effect in 2009 that will legitimate and define international participation in Iraqi reconcili­ation, reconstruction, and humanitarian aid.

• Signal that all of Iraq’s neighbors, including Syria and Iran, will hence forth be treated as partners in promoting stability quickly, carefully, and generously

• Support the establishment of an International Support Group for Iraq

• Inform the Maliki government that the United States will soon announce a timetable for withdrawal and will shift toward a stance that emphasizes neutrality and non-interference in Iraqi politics.

Subsequent to the announcement of a timetable for withdrawal, to promote reconciliation in Iraq the United States can and should:

• Take vigorous diplomatic steps to stem the flow of arms and foreign fighters feeding the civil war and communal violence.

• Assist Iraqi actors and the UN in convening a pan-Iraqi conference on reconciliation, backed by an expanded writ for a UN mission in Iraq. Among other things, that conference should seek an immediate ceasefire and redress of the losses of refugees and internally displaced persons.

On the international level, the United States can and should:

• Immediately re-engage Syria and Iran in non-coercive “give-and-take” diplomacy addressing bilateral issues.

• Engage with Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey seeking their support for peace and economic recovery efforts in Iraq.

• Work within the International Support Group to encourage Iraq’s six neighbors to promote peace and stability in Iraq and the region.

• Strengthen the provisions of the International Compact with Iraq for reparations and debt relief.

With regard to security, the United States can and should:

• Identify likely flashpoints and, when requested by Iraqis, factor them into the planning for transitional US military activities during the period of withdrawal.

• In anticipation that a blue-helmeted peacekeeping force will be needed and requested by Iraq when the US withdraws, support the UN in organizing and funding it.

• Assist the UN and donor states in creating disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration programs.

With regard to economic and humanitarian issues, the United States can and should:

• Cease pressure on Iraq to open up its oil sector and other parts of its economy.

• Support the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in better addressing the plight of Iraqi refugees and internally displaced persons.

• Give aid to Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon earmarked for the care of Iraqi refugees.

• Support a plan to fund refugee resettlement in third countries.

• Donate to an Iraq Development Fund that bankrolls a labor-intensive public works program and helps to fix the broken food rationing system.

• Help to strengthen Iraqi NGOs, with special attention to women’s groups.

In sum, the United States can and should:

• quickly carry out a full military with­drawal from Iraq,

• carefully pursue diplomatic remedies for the Iraq crisis, and

• generously give to help rebuild Iraq in the long run.

The responsibilities are not America’s alone, but America must lead quickly, carefully, and generously.