Linda Robinson
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should see the broad implementation o the agreement as a chance to
use U.S. soft power—in the form o investment, trade, tourism, and
educational and scienti¿c exchanges—to draw Washington and Bagh-
dad closer together.TELL ME HOW THIS REALLY ENDS
The U.S. invasion and subsequent occupation o Iraq have shown the
dangers o starting a major war in the absence o some overwhelming
strategic objective, such as the liberation o Europe in World War II.
Yet the most recent chapter o the United States’ engagement in Iraq
holds a much dierent lesson. The success o Operation Inherent Re-
solve, with its focus on assisting Iraqis as they took the lead in the
¿ght for their own land, points the way toward a new paradigm for
military operations: a middle ground between costly wars and nonin-
tervention, one that relies more on cooperation, diplomacy, and secu-
rity assistance than on unilateral military action.
After more than a decade o civil war, Iraq has a chance to become
a success story all the same: a stable emerging democracy in a region
where both stability and democracy are hard to ¿nd. Some Americans
view Iraq as an unmitigated failure and would prefer to cut U.S. losses
there. But the real failure would be to abandon Iraq just at the mo-
ment when a genuine victory is at hand.∂