Civil authority is the skeleton of the body politic, the structure upon which all its functions are supported. We engaged in an invasive procedure because -- the current reasoning states -- the skeleton was cancerous in places and needed radical surgery. (No argument about the cancer, but the courses of chemo and radiation weren't complete. Ah, well: a difference in diagnostic philosophy.) Yet if one breaks and cuts away parts of bones in the body politic for theraputic reasons and doesn't set them and care for them properly as they heal, the body will heal eventually but be crippled. Are we kicking the patient out of the clinic before recuperation is finished because we don't want to absorb the cost of rehabilitation? What kind of HMO are we running here?

The Kurds are the only indigenous authorities left standing, and the rest of the Iraqis seem intent on making sure they lay down and die. Lucky for us, they will tell the rest of Iraq to go pound sand, which will keep the rest of Iraq busy for a while.

Currently, the only reliable civil authority functioning in Iraq at large is run by the American military, despite fine efforts to build and train an indigenous police force so far. That the Iraqis also believe this is obvious: though they know, and say, that the Americans are not behind attacks on Iraqis, they blame Americans for inadequate security when such attacks occur. Iraqis will eventually be in charge of Iraq, but police forces cannot possibly be recruited, equipped, and (this is crucial) trained by July of this year. It's already March. Without police forces, there can be no civil authority, because there can be no law without enforcement. Period.

It has been argued on this board in the past that early withdrawal was both unwise and unlikely. Precedents were cited: post-war Germany and Japan. Many people from both sides of the aisle, including myself on the one or two occasions I joined that conversation, agreed that the occupation was liable to be long, but that we should stick until Iraq was stable.

Now we are faced with an Administration deadline that is precipitously short and coming up fast. Early withdrawal is just as unwise as it was late last year, but far less unlikely.

If we "win" the war and lose the peace, we will have to fight the war all over again.

Are we willing to withdraw and let the Iraqis choose the government they want, regardless of what we want their government to look like? Past practice indicates we are not. Yet we are willing to withdraw. Why is that?

Regards--
Mary Anne