Senate debate

Iraq: Next Steps for U.S. Policy
Keynote Address
by Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski
3/16/06
(Rush Transcript)

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But in a situation of this sort it, is important not to let ourselves become the prisoners of uncertainty. Prisoners of uncertainty in the sense that, because there is uncertainty, we become its prisoners by saying we cannot change course because the course we’re on is familiar, and what might follow – a change of course – is unfamiliar, and therefore even more perplexing than the reality we confront.

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I think it is clear to you by know, I hope, that I favor a decision by the United States to leave Iraq. And the way I would go about it would be that I would ask the Iraqi leaders to ask us to leave.

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We are teaching them democracy while at the same time arresting them, bombing them, humiliating them – and also helping them. It’s an ambivalent course in democracy – and one not likely to foster it.

I think we should set a date for the termination of the occupation. I’ve recently written publicly in an op-ed piece that I think roughly at the end of this year should be the target date. I am not dogmatic about that particular date. It could be somewhat later, perhaps even somewhat sooner. I do not know. But I would think that within a year we should be able to complete an orderly disengagement and the process would be extremely useful in concentrating Iraqi minds on what will follow and encourage them to assume responsibility.

I do not believe for a minute the argument that setting a date somehow or other would help the insurgency, that somehow or other the insurgents would go into their hiding caves or wherever and wait until the moment we leave and then suddenly they will surface and pounce. It’s not the kind of an insurgency. It’s an insurgency that is much more dispersed, spontaneous, in the crevices of Iraqi society expressing itself, also sometimes on the basis of monetary opportunity.

The assumption of responsibility by Iraqi leaders who know that they are now going to be responsible for the future of the country is more likely to produce leaders that are prepared to lead and have the capacity to lead.

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http://thinkprogress.org/brzezinski-speech