Boston Globe: U.S. should “step aside – let Iraqis settle their differences”

BAGHDAD /Iraqi News In its Saturday editorial, The Boston Globe said that parliamentary elections in Iraq mark autonomy, calling for a U.S. withdrawal from the country, which it said would help Iraqis settle their differences on their own. “When Iraqi voters go to the polls tomorrow, they will be electing members of Parliament but they will not be giving themselves their next government,” the newspaper said. “That will happen only after the major blocs in the new Parliament thrash out a governing alliance and choose cabinet ministers. Since this process is expected to drag out over the next few months with a risk of spiking violence, President Obama may be tempted to go back on his pledge to withdraw all US combat forces by August. He should resist the temptation,” it indicated. “Just about everything important about Iraq today is in flux. Still, the soundest way for Washington to help bring about the most tolerable – or least destructive – outcome is for the United States to step aside and let Iraqis settle their differences.” “There are grounds to believe that tomorrow’s election may help strengthen Iraq’s national identity. The law now permits Iraqis to vote for named candidates instead of a party.” “This change shifts emphasis away from a party’s narrow sectarian identity and toward candidates who best serve the voter and the national interest.” “And the campaigning parties have crafted their appeals on those grounds. A prominent secular coalition plastered posters around Baghdad with pictures of luminaries from the Shi’ite religious parties and suggested that a vote for them was a vote for their backers in Iran.” “The sooner US troops leave Iraq, the quicker Iraqis will have to come to terms with their true threats: Iran, Al Qaeda, corruption, sectarianism, and tensions between Arabs and Kurds,” according to the editorial. “America was born in a struggle against a foreign occupier; it should understand Iraqis’ wish to make their own mistakes their own way,” it added. SS (S)/SR 1