A Framework for Success in Iraq

A Framework for Success in Iraq – Michael Gerson, Washington Post opinion

A war that once seemed likely to end in a panic of helicopters fleeing the American Embassy now seems destined to conclude as the result of a parliamentary process. A landmark status-of-forces agreement (SOFA) — requiring the withdrawal of US combat troops from Iraqi cities by the end of June and from Iraq itself by the end of 2011 — is headed for a final reading in the Iraqi parliament next week.

The approval of the SOFA would leave a chapter of history decorated with paradoxes. President Bush — who once called withdrawal timelines “arbitrary” and “unacceptable” — ends his term accepting them. President-elect Barack Obama will inherit a more peaceful Iraq because of policies he strongly opposed. And the Iraqi government — so often criticized by Americans as weak and ineffectual — is now asserting its sovereignty in a decisive manner, for good or ill.

More at The Washington Post.