LONDON - Military victory is no longer possible in Iraq, former Secretary of
State Henry Kissinger said in a television interview broadcast Sunday.
New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, left, and Henry
Kissinger arrive at the Queen Sofia Spanish Institute 2006 Gold Medal Gala
in New York, Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2006. [AP]
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Kissinger presented a bleak vision of
Iraq, saying the US government must enter into dialogue with Iraq's regional
neighbors - including Iran - if progress is to be made in the
region.
"If you mean by 'military victory' an Iraqi government that can be
established and whose writ runs across the whole country, that gets the civil
war under control and sectarian violence under control in a time period that the
political processes of the democracies will support, I don't believe that is
possible," he told the British Broadcasting Corp.
But Kissinger, an architect of the Vietnam war who has advised President Bush
about Iraq, warned against a rapid withdrawal of coalition troops, saying it
could destabilize Iraq's neighbors and cause a long-lasting conflict.
"A dramatic collapse of Iraq - whatever we think about how the situation
was created - would have disastrous consequences for which we would pay for
many years and which would bring us back, one way or another, into the region,"
he said.
Kissinger, whose views have been sought by the Iraqi Study Group, led by
former Secretary of State James Baker III, called for an international
conference bringing together the permanent members of the United Nations
Security Council, Iraq's neighbors - including Iran - and regional
powers like India and Pakistan to work out a way forward for the region.
"I think we have to redefine the course, but I don't think that the
alternative is between military victory, as defined previously, or total
withdrawal," he said.