The Hindu Business Line : <I>Three bitter pills for Bush</I>

Imagine standing before a signpost pointing to innumerable directions for the same destination! The Bush Administration finds itself in a similar predicament vis-a-vis Iraq. It would dearly love to pull out of the mess of its own making and seeking in Iraq, if only it knew how. There are no signs of let up in jihadi attacks and sectarian bloodbath that have become an established daily routine, taking a heavy toll of lives of American troops and civilians.

Alien ambience

Hopes that the Government of the Iraqis, by the Iraqis and for the Iraqis, installed with so much fanfare and trumpet will get into stride and relieve the US and its increasingly reluctant and unwilling partner, the UK, of their nemesis have been dashed to the ground. The Government of Iraq, instead of serving as a solution, has ended up as the problem. It has little grip on administration, law and order, security or implementation of plans for development and reconstruction.

US military commanders posted in a country of whose demographic complexities, language, culture and customs they have little clue are finding that deliverance does not lie in merely piling up the numbers under their charge (over and above the 170,000 already in place).

In a bewilderingly alien ambience, they have also been compelled to carry the can as surrogates for Iraqi functionaries in discharging non-military responsibilities as well, which do not exactly fall within their core competence.

The options before the Bush Administration in this bleak backdrop are fast shrinking. It has already had a taste of the resentful mood of the people who have handed the House of Representatives and the Senate in the recent elections to the Democrats. Faced with a hostile Congress and as a lame-duck President, with less than two years to go, Mr George Bush, is in no position to make any dramatic shifts and changes in policy.

At the same time, he cannot also afford to let the situation spin out of control, nor throw Iraq into a political turmoil by continuing to drift aimlessly or by cutting and running.

To get out of the bind, he set up the bipartisan Iraq Study Group co-chaired by Messrs James Baker III and Lee Hamilton, for coming up with viable exit strategies with a fresh mind. Its finding that the existing policies of the Administration have not worked could hardly have come as a surprise to anyone. Similar unexciting stuff has been crowned with the frank admission that it has no magic formula to put forth.

Unpalatable pills

Shorn of frills, its prescriptions are three-fold: Withdrawal of half the US troops by 2008; recasting the role of the forces left behind from combat and security duties to training and modernisation of Iraqi forces; and a Middle East diplomatic offensive, involving Iran and Syria, and mandating the pacification of Israel and Palestine, to bring about reconciliation among the various sects now at each others' throats, arrive at a political settlement guaranteeing the credibility and stability of Iraq's constitutional and democratic framework, and foster the spirit of peace and cooperation among the countries of the region.

The latest news is that Mr Bush is finding these pills difficult to swallow. He has set afoot a renewed quest for solutions, starting appropriately enough with consultations at Foggy Bottom (as the State Department is known)!

B. S. RAGHAVAN