Apparently Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has never grasped the famed “Pottery Barn” principle:
His [Rumsfeld’s] main message over a four-city tour was quite different: that the insurgency has staying power and a seemingly endless supply of weapons, and the time has come for ordinary Iraqis to realize that they – not the Americans – will ultimately decide who prevails in this conflict.
. . .
During his visit, Rumsfeld said it would be unrealistic to predict that the level of violence will recede once the Jan. 30 elections are held. In the end, he said, it will be a “uniquely Iraqi solution,” not American.
In other words, good luck with this one.
In related news, Iraq’s largest Sunni Muslim party says it is withdrawing from the upcoming elections due to security concerns.
No problem, right? We’ll just appoint some Sunnis to serve in the government. And let them come up with the “Iraqi solution.”