ICG: Iraq Will Not Be Solved by Military Force

Wow! The International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based NGO, has just released its new report on Iraq... And they're really taking issue with Bush's idea that a military "surge" will help there.

From The Independent (UK):

A diplomatic effort involving all five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council is the only way to stop Iraq falling apart in a religious, Sunni-Shia conflict that could spark a regional conflagration, an influential non-governmental organisation warned yesterday.

The Brussels-based International Crisis Group's (ICG) findings will make even more grim reading for the White House than this month's report from the American Iraq Study Group, as President George Bush struggles to come up with a strategy change.

Iraq, says the ICG's report, faces "complete disintegration into failed-state chaos" ­ and the solution does not lie in the transfer of responsibility to the fragile government of Nouri al-Maliki, as envisaged by the Bush administration and even by the study group led by the former secretary of state James Baker and the former Democratic congressman Lee Hamilton.

Yes, you heard them right:

FAILED-STATE CHAOS!!!!

This is the reality in Iraq, thanks to the "infinite wisdom" of The Great Dubya. Still, at this point, a temporary increase in troop levels won't really do anything to help. How can a political crisis be effectively solved with military force?

The ICG, whose mission is to prevent and resolve deadly conflicts, takes issue with advocates of a "surge" in US troop strength in Iraq and declares that there can be no military solution, only a political one. Instead the ICG wants the "big five" permanent members of the Security Council and Iraq's six neighbours to form an "international support group" ­ but not with the exclusive aim of propping up the Maliki government. "It must support Iraq ­ which means pressing the government, along with all other Iraqi constituents, to make the necessary compromises."

Hmmmm, this sounds like an interesting proposal. I mean, perhaps if we engage the interational community, then we can actually win some help in working out a much-needed political solution in Iraq. Our military presence there is not helping, but the help we receive from the world community (and especially Iraq's neighbors!!)clearly can.

Yes, how about putting some good ideas into practice, for a change?