James Phillips
James Phillips
democratic government happy iran iraqis lead leave national quick supporting vacuum
A quick pullout would leave a vacuum that Iran would be all too happy to fill. The Iraqis who are supporting a democratic government would be completely demoralized. It could lead to a very quick unraveling of national cohesion.
area areas concerned danger insurgency iraq kurdish leaving loss present ran strongly support
I think part of their objections are really a smokescreen because they're concerned about their loss of power. Historically, they ran Iraq and now if you really look at where the insurgency area is, it is the Sunni areas which are most in danger of leaving in the short-run not the Kurdish or Shi'ite areas because they strongly support the present government.
keeping
Americans don't want to be there keeping the lid on things.
actual change focused might policy regime syria
Right now the administration is more focused on what might be called policy change in Syria than on actual regime change.
attempting major
They are long overdue (for attempting another major attack) in this country.
depth greater high murky role ties time
It is high time that the U.S. look in greater depth at these murky ties ... there is a role here for another commission.
available democracy funds guiding helpful higher iraqis logical personal practice priority programs protect providing security short stable toward
I think the programs, in the long run, are helpful in guiding Iraqis toward stable democracy. Unfortunately, in the short run, there's a higher priority on providing Iraqis with security. And much of the funds that may have been available before for these programs were diverted, I think, to protect Iraqis. And I think that's logical because you can't practice democracy if personal security is perpetually at risk.
attains compete iran nuclear obtaining perhaps
If Iran attains a nuclear weapon, the Saudis may try to compete with Iran by obtaining their own nuke, perhaps from Pakistan.
call
We have what I call a knee-jerk reaction.
clash forces government hand iraqi letting violence walk
U.S. forces must walk a tightrope. They must restrain the violence while letting the Iraqi government forces take the lead, yet on the other hand they don't want to clash with any of the (legitimate) factions.
human loop taking
We are taking the human out of the loop completely.