PM Maliki taking a Right Step in Iraq

Fire of Liberty

For the past two weeks I've been reading various articles on the Iraqi government's effort to launch a reconciliation with various factions within the Sunni minority who have taken up arms against the US and Iraqi security forces. After listening to the pros and cons of the Iraqi government going forward with such a effort, I have to say that I'm in favor of Prime Minister al-Maliki and his government going further with such talks. Now I know that the mere thought of the Iraqi government holding talks with Sunnis who have taken up arms and killed our servicemen is a little disturbing to their families and various politicians in D.C. but its a decision being made by a sovereign state that we have no control over. No matter how much we kick and scream, the Iraqi government has to be able to find a way to eliminate or at cut down the threats to their democracy in half and if talking to and bringing the least dangerous branches under the umbrella of a national unity government is the best approach then so be it. One only has to look back at the history of this nation to realize from time to time after the Revolutionary War, Civil War and our fight against the guerrillas in Philippines, the government has gone about reconciliating and pardoning American Tories, Confederates or Filipinos who took up arms or killed American soldiers during these conflicts. (With regards to individuals in the Revolutionary War and Civil War, the powers that be in the US agreed that even though taking up arms and killing American soldiers they were still Americans and should be welcomed into the fold.)Above all else, these individuals who are willing to come forward to admit their guilt and ask for a pardon is far better than having an angry mob at their throat threatening further chaos for years to come.

One thing that I didn't thing about PM al-Maliki's reconciliation plan is the fact if you bring the Sunni militias and Iraqi tribes out of the cold you will enlist more allies into the fight thus creating a smaller fishbowl for the Islamic terrorists to swim in. Well luckily for the readers of Fire of Liberty, Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer seems to sum up the necessity of the Iraqi government pushing forward a reconciliation with when noted the following in his most recent column:

In Iraq, amnesty will necessarily be part of any co-optation strategy in which insurgents lay down their arms. And it would not apply to the foreign jihadists, who, unlike the Sunni insurgents who would join the new Iraq, dream of an Islamic state built on the ruins of the current order. There is nothing to discuss with such people. The only way defeat them is to kill them, as we did Zarqawi.

But killing them requires depriving them of their sanctuary. Reconciliation-cum-amnesty gets disaffected Iraqi Sunni tribes to come over to the government's side, drying up the sea in which the jihadists swim. After all, we found Zarqawi in heavily Sunni territory by means of intelligence given to us by local Iraqis.

Protests in America over the amnesty suggestion have caused both the administration and the Maliki government to backtrack. But don't believe it. Amnesty will be an essential element in any reconciliation policy. Which, in turn, is the only route to victory -- defined today just as it was on the first day of the war: leaving behind a self-sustaining post-Saddam government, both democratic and friendly to our interests. It is attainable. The posturing over amnesty can only make it more difficult.

Let's thank G-d that the Iraqi government is running the day to day activities of Iraq and will take the heat from the voters rather than a US regent. We'll carry part of the weight with regards to the military operations in Iraq but it'd be nice to have the insurgency cut in half and more indigenous people in Iraq helping us track down and wipe out the snake den of terrorists who are the real culprits responsible for setting of bombs killing innocent citizens in Iraq.