Iraqi Opinion Matters

It now looks highly unlikely that Turkish troops will go to Iraq as peacekeepers. Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said he would prefer not to send troops if the Iraqis don't want them there. The Iraqis most certainly don't, and representatives both both the Kurds and tribal Iraqis have threatened violence againt them. It now appears the U.S. may withdraw the request.

This is both good and bad news. There do need to be more troops in Iraq; however, imposing another unpopular foreign force with its own agenda was not the optimal solution. This situation has shown something, however: Iraqi opinion of these matters does carry weight. It's sad that without the threat of violence it probably wouldn't have mattered, but that is the situation in which we find ourselves, and ignoring it in favor of ideologically driven administration planning won't change it. The sooner a stable national political process is created, the better. (Note: I consider this different from most of the guerrilla attacks on the U.S., which have diverse causes and will continue on some level as long as we're there.)