Analysis: U.S. plan may be in flux

By Robin Wright and Walter Pincus
THE WASHINGTON POST

Nov. 30 — The latest plan to end the U.S. occupation of Iraq is barely two weeks old, but it already faces an array of problems that has led Iraqis and Iraq experts to question its prospects for creating a stable democratic government by July 1.

U.S. OFFICIALS, meanwhile, are developing fallback options. But the Bush administration’s decision to hand over the reins in seven months has limited U.S. leverage to solve problems during this delicate period, Iraq experts say. Despite his power on paper, U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer is effectively a lame duck, and everyone who disagrees with the U.S. plan knows it.

“Iraqis are now watching the calendar,” said Henri Barkey, a former State Department policy planner who chairs Lehigh University’s international relations department. “There’s very little incentive to cooperate with the United States, because virtually every actor thinks he can get a better deal after the Americans leave.”

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Yup. Its a quagmire.</b