Give Iraq to the Iraqis.(What's Next in Iraq?)

The TAE poll of Iraqi public opinion reinforces what a number of us have been arguing for years. There is, not surprisingly, only a very narrow base of support in Iraq for the murdering, raping, and looting dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. Most Iraqis know their future is better since liberation than under Saddam's rule. Most Iraqis also prefer a free society to an Iranian-style religious dictatorship.

Our current problems may lie as much in a Washington that is slow to accept the fruits of its own victory as in Baghdad. Rather than imposing an orderly bureaucratic rule that inevitably makes us too responsible for daily life in Iraq, I suggest we should support the Iraqi people governing themselves, even with some inherent disorder. The first steps to that end are simple and immediately doable:

First, the U.S. should move as quickly as possible to transfer legitimate authority on a wide range of decisions to the Iraqi Governing Council. Second, the Governing Council should name an ambassador to the United States immediately. The United States should encourage Great Britain and other countries to accept an ambassador from Iraq as quickly as possible. Third, ...