Sign up to The Irish Times Archive (1859 - 2008)My Account »

Mon 01 Jan 2007Having a fallback position if the surge should failOpinion: If we were allied with an Iraqi government that, however weak, was truly national - cross-confessional and dedicated to fighting a two-front war against Baathist insurgents and Shia militias - a surge of American troops, together with a change of counterinsurgency strategy, would have a good chance of succeeding.Unfortunately, the Iraqi political process has given us Nouri al-Maliki and his Shia coalition.