"you occupy the Iraq you have, not the Iraq you might wish to have later"

[madison2000]

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/EDF35F2E-3E4B-46...

US Iraq strategy 'no longer achievable'
Thursday 23 December 2004, 1:31 Makka Time, 22:31 GMT (Aljazeera)

The International Crisis Group (IGC), a conflict resolution organisation, said on Wednesday that Iraqi confidence in the US "is in freefall". Soaring resentment feeds anti-US violence, making the transition process a source of, not the solution to, the US's legitimacy deficit, said the Brussels-based group.

Washington said its initial objective was to turn Iraq into a model for the region - a democratic, secular and free-market oriented government, sympathetic to US interests, not openly hostile towards Israel, and possibly home to long-term American military bases. But the Bush-administration now needs to limit its ambitions and focus on achievable goals, said the IGC.

Legitimacy deficit
Namely, it should gradually disengage politically and militarily from Iraq and let Iraq disengage politically from it. "Washington has to realise - you occupy the Iraq you have, not the Iraq you might wish to have later," said Robert Malley, director of the IGC's Middle East/North Africa Programme.