President George W. Bush had promised himself to accomplish three tasks before the Iraqi elections slated for late January. First get reelected, second put an end to the spreading insurgency in occupied Iraq, and lastly, hold a meeting of Iraq's neighbors to garner support for his failed policy in Iraq and "move its political process forward."
While some political observers had predicted that Bush was a one-term occupant of the White House, he managed to prove them wrong and defeated his Democratic rival John Kerry in the Nov. 2 elections. What is more, Republicans also gained the majority in the Congress.
So, he managed the first task successfully and prepared himself for the next. Though Iraqis fighting the US-led occupation are not stationed in Fallujah alone, most regional observers believe the battered city was home to most of the insurgents before it was taken over jointly by US-Iraqi forces last week.
Those who maintain that Fallujah had become the epitome of opposition to the Iraqi interim rulers, the full-fledged military attack on the city over the past several days could mean a serious blow against Iraqi dissidents. At any rate, it could be said that Bush took a major step for the fulfillment of his second goal.
His last task before the Iraqis vote in January was to hold the multi-lateral conference on Iraq, which ended in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheik on Tuesday.
Political analysts are of the opinion that by quelling the Iraqi insurgents mercilessly, the US is trying to further fortify interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi's government and acquire enhanced legitimacy for it at the regional level.
Therefore, Bush has already done a great deal for improving the legitimacy of the Sharm el-Sheikh conference, for which publicity campaigns started from last summer. It seems that the undertaking could seriously improve Allawi's legitimacy as prime minister.
However, there exist some doubts about the duration of this legitimacy. Although Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the highest religious authority in Iraq, has said that he would be the first person to participate in the January elections, European media has lambasted the methods deployed by the US-led forces for restoring peace and security in Iraq. Some have stressed that declaration of a state of emergency by the US-appointed Allawi for two months is an indication that the chaos inside the country is simply out of control. Others maintain that although conditions in Iraq were as bad before the US presidential elections, American officials refused to talk about before the vote fearing the Republicans would be defeated in the elections. Opinion in some circles is that even if conditions in the war-torn country improve in the next few months, there is no assurance that Iraq will not slide back into anarchy and chaos at a later stage.
Reporters and correspondents covering Iraq recently condemned the US and Iraqi military for killing innocent women and children in the fake name of "fighting the insurgency" and have asked whether the ballot boxes for the upcoming elections are to be "stationed in cemeteries."
For now, it seems the US and the interim government has been successful in quelling the Iraqi insurgents.
Allawi is reportedly confident that he will ultimately silence the armed opposition and has rejected compromise with the fighters.
From Washington's perspective, it is time that steps be taken to enhance his position amid growing opposition to the interim government which never had any popularity among the masses.
Should this happen, US planners maintain, the ground would be paved for the elections and possibly give a lease of life to the interim government. But the question is if and when things go America's way, will the Pentagon be convinced to withdraw its unwanted and uninvited forces from Iraq?