You Can't Win with Civil Wars
History teaches that conflicts like Iraq drag on and rarely produce peace deals.
10/03/2007
Professor Barbara F. Walter,
L.A. Times
In this opinion piece in the L.A. Times, Professor Barbara F. Walter discusses what the lessons of history suggest for the future of the Iraq war.
Since the beginning of the Iraq war, President Bush has made it very clear that we will stay in that country for as long as it takes to get the job done, and that the United States will prevail in the end. This mantra allows the president to avoid admitting failure, but it ignores everything we've learned about civil wars since World War II.
The approximately 125 civil wars -- conflicts involving a government and rebels that produce at least 1,000 battle deaths -- since 1945 tell us several things: The civil war in Iraq will drag on for many more years; it will end in a decisive victory for either the Shiites or the Sunnis, not in a compromise settlement; and the weaker side will never sign a settlement or lay down its arms because it has no way to enforce the terms. More....
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