SADDAM GAVE US STABILITY AND SECULARISM:

The Real Choice in Iraq (Zbigniew Brzezinski, January 8, 2006, Washington Post)

Victory, as defined by the administration and its supporters -- i.e., a stable and secular democracy in a unified Iraqi state, with the insurgency crushed by the American military assisted by a disciplined, U.S.-trained Iraqi national army -- is unlikely.

Unlikely? It's undesirable and self-contradictory. If a democratic Iraq decides to devolve into two or three sovereign states does Mr. Brzezinski propose that we use our military to stop them? Making Iraq democratic means letting them find their own way. That terrifies Realists, who value stability uber alles, but needn't much bother the rest of us.

MORE:
Unity government at hand, Iraqi says (Jason Straziuso, January 8, 2006, ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Iraq's fractious political groups are moving ahead to shape a national-unity government, progress that should help stop the carnage of the past several days, the prime minister and other leaders said yesterday.

Iraq's Kurdish president, Jalal Talabani, predicted that a new government could be formed within weeks. He made the comments after meeting with visiting British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who said Iraqis remain optimistic about their future despite suffering through a violent week, when nearly 200 people were killed in two days, including 11 U.S. troops.

In an effort to help draw Sunni Arabs into the political process as a way to dampen the violence, U.S. officials for months have been communicating directly or through channels with members of the disaffected minority connected to the insurgency.

A Western diplomat yesterday reported a recent "uptick" in those contacts.

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 8, 2006 9:00 AM