An international diplomat once described concluding a deal with the Russians as "first signing the agreement, then beginning negotiations." There are always, of course, cultural differences about the art of the deal. We tend to borrow British ideas, whether we always realize it or not. That stiff upper lip, honorable forthrightness, blah blah. We assume that's how everyone either does it or should do it. Not really so.
So the U.S. is deadlocked in its back-and-forth with the Iraqi government over the Status of Forces Agreement, a continuing drama which I find peculiarly fascinating, probably because I've spent most of my professional life cutting deals of one kind or another. I've thought from the beginning that the American team was in over its head. Only recently have they begun to play hardball with the Iraqis -- sign or we pull out and leave you to your fate.
Of course, that's the last thing the Bush Administration really wants to do. They've been forced into it because they've been outmaneuvered by the Iraqis. The Iraqi negotiating team kept a close eye on the leverage points. They knew that Bush would see a pullout from Iraq as an ignominious defeat, especially because of the relevance of the UN Mandate. When the Mandate expires on December 31, an extension would have to be approved by Vladimir Putin, and Bush is not going to go hat-in-hand to Pooty-Poot and ask for a favor. They also know Bush has virtually no credibility at home - even with this anemic Congress, his ranting and raving is not going to get him anywhere with an unpopular war, the way it used to do. The clock favors the Iraqis in myriad ways: the UN Mandate runs out, Bush's tenure in office runs out. Where's the rush?
"We obviously want to be helpful and constructive without undermining basic principles," Bush said in the Oval Office during a meeting with Massoud Barzani, president of the semiautonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq. "I remain very open and confident that the SOFA will get passed," he added, using the acronym for Status of Forces Agreement...Dabbagh said other amendments sought by the Iraqis include a clear definition of "off-duty" when cases arise involving crimes committed away from U.S. bases. The Iraqis also want to inspect all U.S. military shipments entering or leaving Iraq.
That's the kind of word usage I'm going to miss so much when Bush is gone. He remains "very open and confident" about the SOFA. What does it mean to be "open and confident?" "Open" in that sentence doesn't really mean anything, does it? And yet there the word is, a completely meaningless word uttered by the President of the United States of America about his signature project while in office. Did he hear "hopeful" in his head and it came out "open?" Did Bush realize that saying one is "hopeful and confident" sounds a little internally inconsistent and thus switched to a meaningless word at the last second to avoid saying something that would have sounded even sillier? Like so much Bush has said over the years, it really doesn't matter at this point. He just uses words very strangely.
Meanwhile, there are those crafty Iraqis again, drilling in on this "off duty" idea. When is a U.S. GI really "off duty" so the mullahs can try him for a "serious crime?" Look, Condi: will you get serious for a minute? Let's not sign a deal with the Iraqis which exposes American soldiers to the whims of Shariya law, okay? This whole dumb idea has gone on long enough. We have asked enough of these men and women stranded in the desert so far from home. They are not going to be tried in an Iraqi court for anything, and if that means we start packing up now so we're out by December 31, so be it. Use that as an exit line. We invaded, according to you, Ms. Rice, so Saddam's imminent threat to America would not "come in the form of a mushroom cloud." Remember that one? Okay, we've accomplished all that. No Saddam and no mushroom clouds. Now don't compound this original, enormous, virtually unbelievable error in judgment by insisting that we stay in Iraq under a SOFA which involves the certainty that American soldiers will be subjected to Medieval notions of trial and retribution by a government where the major party is named the "Supreme Islamic Council of Iraq," and where it is most likely that all of their legal procedures and punishments will be modeled on Iranian concepts.
The bad joke's over. Get all of those soldiers home.
No comments:
Post a Comment