New Iraq Strategy

The U.S. is now moving toward having local elections for an Iraqi transitional government early in 2004. Regular readers will suspect correctly that I support this move, which will be an important signal that the U.S. ultimately wants Iraqis to control their own country. I do not think this counts as "cutting and running," and may speed the process of winning the war for reasons I discussed yesterday. Some government officials worry that Shi'ite Muslims will try to write a theocratic constitution. Those officials are dumb and should be ignored.