MUST READ: EUROPE, CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM

Europe, Christianity and Islam

PK: I can't pass up the chance to ask you about the situation in Iraq, which you know as well, if not better, than anyone. Are we losing?

Ralph Peters: We're not losing, but we're not winning, either. The situation is dire, but not yet hopeless. To me, the real tragedy is that the situation in Iraq did not have to come to this pass--the amateurish mistakes the administration insisted on making in 2003 and early 2004 did much to create the atmosphere of violence, lawlessness and unleashed hatreds we see today. I supported, and still support, the removal of Saddam Hussein. I only wish the administration had been less arrogant, had listened to the military, and had done it competently.

We're now faced with possible failure. The current surge (which may prove too small) is our last chance, given our domestic political environment. General Petraeus, the new commander in Baghdad, is doing the right things at last, but the situation may prove irremediable. We just don't know. Yet, the stakes are so high that we all should support this last effort. Even should things go our way--and there are some positive signs, the first in a year--we're not going to get the ideal situation for which we hoped; that said, there's still a chance of a far more benign Iraq emerging.

Nor are we the only party to blame for the current, unnecessary mess. Once again, the Arab people, within Iraq and without, have failed themselves horribly. Their pettiness, their embrace of corruption, their social structures and their taste for internecine feuds and religious intolerance all have led them to make a hash of this unprecedented opportunity to build one rule-of-law democracy in the Arab world. Arabs have an ineradicable genius for failing themselves.

Now the best for which we may hope is that Iraq will muddle through to an acceptable level of rehabilitation. The only consolation is that, given the awful state of Middle-Eastern civilization overall, such a muddling through would almost equal a triumph. It's very difficult to muster any optimism about the greater Middle East, where the culture of blame precludes a culture of progress.

PK: It has become almost a cliché, even among Bush supporters, to concede that "mistakes were made" in the prosecution of the war. What were these mistakes?

Peters: The mistakes are legion. To cite only a few: Not enough troops early on; the unwillingness to impose security in the streets after Baghdad's fall (the administration feared the media would carp about any crackdown); trusting partisan émigrés who had narrow, selfish agendas; turning Iraq into a looting orgy for U.S. contractors; the refusal to listen to military advice in wartime; forbidding the military to plan for an occupation; failing to field a unified chain of command; the hubris of sending young, inept party hacks to Baghdad for brief, ticket-punch stints to reconstruct a complex country; the lack of seriousness about defeating the insurgency early on; the lack of resolve to kill Muqtada al-Sadr when he began his campaign of assassinating our allies; disbanding the Iraqi military and government, thus putting idle young males out of work and on the streets; allowing private security contractors to alienate the Iraqi population; and the general lack of courage and will in the administration after Baghdad fell--the dog caught the fire truck and didn't know what to do with it. President Bush did a noble thing, but did it inexcusably badly.

PK: President Bush has recommended a troop surge. Do you think that's the right move?

Peters: I would have preferred no troop surge, or a larger troop surge. I'm concerned that we've sent enough troops to make a tactical, but not a strategic, difference. Nonetheless, I support the "mini-surge" because of what's at stake. General Petraeus is the best man we've got for this situation. He's got a fighting chance--but the real question is whether the Iraqis will step up to the plate. The foreign terrorists, Sunni insurgents and Shia militiamen are willing to die for their beliefs. If other Iraqis, in decisive numbers, will not risk their lives for a constitutional government--and they may not, given their culture--it just won't work. Ultimately, for all of our efforts, we can only put the training wheels on the bicycle, but the Iraqis have to ride the bike themselves. Iraqi security forces are improving, but we honestly don't know if they'll improve sufficiently--and quickly enough.

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