Captain Ed does a good job of examining the leaked memo from the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad published by The Village Voice today. The Voice‘s piece on it is (unsurprisingly) a very selective reading of the actual memo. As the Captain notes:
The Village Voice cherry-picked a bit to write its analysis, but give them credit for releasing a near-complete text of the memo for everyone to analyze on their own. In truth, people use bits and pieces of this memo to support a number of political stances. However, when one reads the memo in its entirety, the inescapable conclusion is not that the writer has given up on American efforts in Iraq, but that only American efforts will solve the problems. One can only assume that the writer would be applauding the current efforts in Najaf and Fallujah to finally assert CPA authority and to demonstrate the overwhelming force at their disposal, so that the small bands of insurgents cannot force the general population to cower. We need to step in, clean up the corruption, expand our presence in Iraq much wider than the Green Zone, eliminate the Iranian-influenced radical militias, and get control of the borders.
Read the entire memo.
Indeed, that’s good advice. The memo is indeed critical of the CPA, which is understandable. However, it also shows that turning the situation over to UN control would be disastrous, and that the CPA can reform itself to do a better job.
I’m actually more relieved than disturbed by this memo – if things are going wrong, or there are areas which the CPA needs to improve in, they should be examined from a critical perspective. Groupthink is not condusive to a healthy environment. The CPA should take a hard look at the recommendations in the memo and see how it can improve its performance.
Of course, The Village Voice is trying to use the memo as a partisan sledgehammer against the Bush Administration. In actuality, while the memo shows some disturbing problems with the CPA, it also shows that someone is willing to do something about it.
