View from Kurdish President Massoud Barzani

Interesting stuff.

"Kurdistan: A conversation with the president of Iraq's most successful region." by Judith Miller for the Wall Street Journal, October 28, 2006.

Mr. Barzani is not shy about offering advice to Washington. The U.S. needs
to revise its policies because "the existing strategy is not effective," he
says. American forces could be reduced--perhaps by half--he said, but only when
Iraqi forces are ready to restore order. But that will not happen, he warns,
until the U.S. permits the Iraqi government to rid itself of the "terrorists,
chauvinists and extremists" in its ranks who condone and "openly incite the
violence on TV" that is destroying what remains of the capital and the country.
He refuses to name names. But other Kurds point to such figures as Salah Mutlaq,
an extremist Sunni leader, and aides to Moqtada al-Sadr, who heads a radical
Shia militia.

In the US, we don't seem to have a collective clue as to why our goals are not being met in Iraq. I suspect that many people around the world, especially those whose frame of reference more accurately represents the reality on the ground in Iraq, understand full well why our mission is stalling out. You can't ignore the process.

Eric