Chessboard Endgame by Garry Kasparov

Chessboard Endgame
Obsessed with Iraq, we've lost sight of the rest of the world.
BY GARRY KASPAROV
Wall Street Journal
Saturday, December 2, 2006 12:01 a.m. EST

"For the past few years, the dictators and terrorists have been gaining ground, and with good reason. The deepening catastrophe in Iraq has distracted the world's sole superpower from its true goals, and weakened the U.S. politically as well as militarily. With new congressional leadership threatening to make the same mistake--failing to see Iraq as only one piece of a greater puzzle--it is time to return to the basics of strategic planning.

Thirty years as a chess player ingrained in me the importance of never losing sight of the big picture. Paying too much attention to one area of the chessboard can quickly lead to the collapse of your entire position. America and its allies are so focused on Iraq they are ceding territory all over the map. Even the vague goals of President Bush's ambiguous war on terror have been pushed aside by the crisis in Baghdad.

The U.S. must refocus and recognize the failure of its post-9/11 foreign policy. Pre-emptive strikes and deposing dictators may or may not have been a good plan, but at least it was a plan. However, if you attack Iraq, the potential to go after Iran and Syria must also be on the table. Instead, the U.S. finds itself supervising a civil war while helplessly making concessions elsewhere.

This dire situation is a result of the only thing worse than a failed strategy: the inability to recognize, or to admit, that a strategy has failed. Since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, North Korea has tested a nuclear weapon. Iran is openly boasting of its uranium enrichment program while pouring money into Hezbollah and Hamas. A resurgent Taliban is on the rise in Afghanistan. Nearly off the radar, Somalia is becoming an al Qaeda haven. Worst of all is the answer to the question that ties all of these burning fuses together: No, we are not safer now than we were before.

............SNIP"

http://opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110009331

a civil war without the USA presence would be any worse. There might be stability in factions controlling certain sectors. The worry for me at this point is what happens if it turn into ethnic cleansing after the USA goes.

...seems that this group is killing that group which is killing them back.....

...sounds like if not 'ethnic' then 'religious sect' cleansing anyway....

of people out of neighbourhoods.. has barely begun ...see Independance in India for more on what it could be like. With hundreds of thousands moving across borders. I suppose you could say that it is happening now too. But it could get worse.

Point is.. it could get worse. Could it get better if the USA leaves? I suppose so. I think it is worth a try.