Out of Iraq: A Practical Plan for Withdrawal Now

by George McGovern, William R. Polk

Overview

Former senator George McGovern and William R. Polk, a leading authority on the Middle East, offer a detailed plan for a speedy troop withdrawal from Iraq.

During the phased withdrawal, to begin on December 31, 2006, and to be completed by June 30, 2007, they recommend that the Iraq government engage the temporary services of an international stabilization force to police the country. Other elements in the withdrawal plan include an independent accounting of American expenditures of Iraqi funds, reparations to Iraqi civilians for lives lost and property destroyed, immediate release of all prisoners of war, the closing of American detention centers, and offering to void all contracts for petroleum exploration, development, and marketing made during the American occupation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781416542421
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	10/03/2006
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	160
File size:	264 KB

About the Author

George McGovern, the Democratic Party's nominee for president in 1972, served in the House of Representatives from 1957 to 1961 and in the Senate for eighteen years. He was the president of the Middle East Policy Council in Washington, D.C., for six years and then served as ambassador to the UN Agencies on Food and Agriculture in Rome under President Clinton. He holds the Distinguished Flying Cross for service as a bomber pilot in World War II and the Presidential Medal of Freedom for humanitarian service.

William R. Polk, the author of Understanding Iraq, taught at Harvard until becoming the member of the State Department's Policy Planning Council responsible for the Middle East in 1961. He served as head of the interdepartmental task force on the Algerian war and was a member of the crisis management subcommittee during the Cuban missile crisis. After leaving government, he became professor of history at the University of Chicago and president of the Adlai Stevenson Institute of International Affairs.

Editorial Reviews

This is a well-crafted tract for our times. In a pliable paperbackthat will fit into a purse or pocket, the authors waste not a word in asserting that Americans were misled into Iraq and in setting out the baleful impact of the U.S. intervention on Iraqis and Americans. They then turn to their "practical plan for withdrawal," which includes a phased withdrawal of U.S. troops to be completed by June 30, 2007, an immediate cessation of work on U.S. military bases in Iraq, an evacuation of the sprawling Green Zone, and a number of specific steps to financially support the Iraqi government and people both during and after the withdrawal. Each of these later steps comes with a price tag that they shrewdly convert into single-day costs of the continuing U.S. presence in Iraq (usually only one day or less for each proposed step). What comes through, however, is not so much an economics argument as a wise and learned conviction (with some passing references to Vietnam) that what the United States ought to do or refrain from doing in its foreign relations accords with what works and does not work in international politics.

Foreign Affairs

The U.S. invasion of Iraq has brought about profound instability and major transformations in regional politics. The long-term implications of the continuing occupation of Iraq have yet to be determined. However, it has become clear to many analysts, and even some U.S. supporters of the war, that both the prestige of the United States and the country's ability to affect the course of events in the Middle East have been significantly reduced by Washington's Iraq adventure. In this crisp and cogently argued book, former senator McGovern, the Democratic presidential nominee in 1972, and scholar Polk (Understanding Iraq), a former JFK diplomat, offer a trenchant and straightforward critique of the war in Iraq. What makes their highly readable book unique is that it not only argues why the United States needs to disengage militarily from Iraq now (e.g., to prevent widening sectarian violence) but also clearly delineates practical steps for troop withdrawal (e.g., a phased process, with POW releases and reparations for expenditure of Iraqi funds). Essential reading for anybody who wants to cut through the maze of confusion that surrounds current U.S. policy in Iraq, this book is highly recommended for public and academic libraries. Nader Entessar, Univ. of South Alabama, Mobile Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

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