Democrats and a Political Solution

Much has been made of late of teh need for a "political solution" to the problems in Iraq. To be sure, with an improving military and security situation on the ground, a "political solution" seems to be next on the to do list. But as pointed out in this Redstate piece, the "military/security" solution and the "political" solution on inextricably intertwined.

The standard bleat in the media that is rapidly becoming the conventional wisdom on Iraq is the phrase "we need a political solution" in Iraq. As opposed to what, one is tempted to ask. A supernatural solution?

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This is just another set of moving goalposts that is being used to flog the administration. We've seen this movie and its sequels every six months or so since the war began. It started with the preditions of tens of thousands of US casualties taking Baghdad (the Russians are helping Saddam, donchaknow, and Russia means Stalingrad, and Stalingrad only had one river while Bagdad has *two* rivers so it will be twice as bad), then it was the Lawrence of Arabia theme of the insurgents cutting US supply lines to Kuwait, and it was the Shi'a uprising, and it was the failed votes for the Iraqi constitution and government, and it goes on and on. None of this is to say that the war has not been fraught with difficulties but each and every time the difficulty du jour has been overcome it has been met with a sneer and a hearty "that was easy, this new problem is really, really difficult."

The growing interdependence of the religious sects on the local level is belied by the partisanship on the national level. Until the local level cooperation percolates up to the national level, the Iraqi national government will be hamstrung and largely ineffective. I would imagine that a vote of no-confidence is not far away and new elections not far behind. This maybe on step on the road to a political solution, but as Streiff points out, you cannot have a political solution without a military one.

Withdrawal from Iraqi is the equivalent of punting on the issue and hoping the Iraqis can solve their own problems, both militarily and politically.