WASHINGTON — Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, one of the Republican Party’s most respected senior statesmen, says that the Bush administration may have to give up on democracy in Iraq to salvage the goal of stabilising the country.
Kissinger — who has frequently advised US President George Bush in the three years since the US invaded Iraq — told the Los Angeles Times that he believed democracy for now was out of reach for Iraq.
His comments, coming after the US electorate earlier this month dealt ruling Republicans a resounding defeat in congress, largely over the lack of progress in the war in Iraq, sharpened the criticism aimed at the White House even from within Bush’s own ranks.
Kissinger’s analysis also broadens the options being proposed for the war.
Meanwhile, Republican presidential hopeful John McCain, a US senator who as a Navy pilot spent several years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, told ABC News US soldiers were “fighting and dying for a failed policy”.
He repeated his longstanding call for more US troops in Iraq, saying on Sunday that the 145000 soldiers already there needed reinforcements to ensure military victory.
McCain is exploring making a bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008.
Kissinger, who supported the 2003 invasion to topple Saddam Hussein, said it would have been better for the US to postpone democratic development and instead install a strong Iraqi leader.
“If we had done that right away, that might have been the best way to proceed.”
The centre-left Democrats need to move quickly to consolidate their election victory and lead the way out of the Iraq crisis.
The Democrats elected to congress range from leftwing legislators in secure districts to moderates who represent conservative states and hold a wide range of opinions on Iraq. Some support the war but are critical of the Bush administration’s strategies. The intraparty diversity leaves the Democrats struggling to speak with a clear voice on the issue.
Carl Levin, expected to chair the armed services committee in January when the centre-left Democrats take control of congress, has called for a phased US troop withdrawal within four to six months. DPA
http://www.businessday.co.za/
