RAND on Iraq Withdrawal
RAND released a reportlast week that discusses the potential repercussions of a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, as well as offers suggestions regarding ongoing U.S.-Iraq military cooperation.
Titled, Security in Iraq: A Framework for Analyzing Emerging Threats as U.S. Forces Leave, the work was authored by David C. Gompert, Terrence K. Kelly, and Jessica Watkins.
From the research brief:
"...Long-term cooperation between the United States and Iraq should simultaneously build:
* Capability: Provide the Iraqi Security Forces with training, equipment, advice, and operational support. * Character: Promote the professionalism, accountability, self-discipline, and institutional capacity of the Iraqi Security Forces and their governing ministries. * Confidence: Foster transparency and open communication between the government of Iraq's forces and those of the Kurdistan Regional Government."
Also, here's a pulled quote from the report's introduction:
"With U.S. policy-makers now seized by Muslim-extremist insurgenices in Afghanistan and Pakistan and by nuclear proliferation by Iran and North Korea, Iraq's dangers may receive less attention. Yet, how security conditions in Iraq may affect and be affected by the withdrawal of U.S. forces is one of the most serious matters facing U.S. policy-makers within the next few years. At stake for the United States is where Iraq falls on a spectrum ranging from "a model of progress" to "a source of turmoil" in one of the world's most critical and volcanic regions."
The report is available for sale as a paperbook book, or as a free-of-charge .pdf download here.
Related: TTLA's Middle East conversation with RAND's Dalia Dassa Kaye.
Photo Credit: The image accompanying this post was taken by Flickr user The U.S. Army. It was used under Creative Commonslicense.
From Flickr, here's the photo's complete caption: "Soldiers from Company A, 1st Battalion, 12 Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, reenlist near Baqubah, Iraq, at "Apache Lake," site of the Soldiers' favorite swimming hole. Following the ceremony, the Soldiers had some mud wrestling fun. photo by Staff Sgt. John Smith; www.Army.mil".
