The mission of the United States Army in Iraq is beginning to transform from a war-oriented approach to peace centered tactics. In recent months, the president as well as military leaders have placed more emphasis on finding peaceful negotiations of ceasefires with insurgents. These agreements have played a prominent role in the recent down trend of violence that the nation has been seeing. Originally the US troops were sent to function as an anti insurgent force whereas they are now functioning primarily as peacekeepers.
However this success in reducing violence is not necessarily a ticket out of Iraq. As of now, the US is functioning as the enforcer of cease-fire deals. If the United States were to vacate the nation, the progress would likely topple over and the nation would be left where they started. Vali Nasr of the council for foreign relations said, “My impression was that the success means that the US mission in Iraq has to evolve much more now from security, which we still have to be very vigilant with, to much more state-building.”
What do you make of Nasr’s statement about the current situation in Iraq? Is the United States next move to continue peacekeeping while also helping to build the state of Iraq? How would the United States go about doing this? The first think that comes to mind is to continue to assist with setting up a new and innovative government for the nation of Iraq. This must be a government that will not be stifled by the nation’s past history of violence and corruption. If a government can be established that operates on moral principals, the United States will be able to vacate Iraq once and for all.
