対イラク武力行使

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD:if the goal of turning Iraq into Sweden is out of
reach, I think nevertheless Iraq is edging in its own way -- not the way
we would have chosen or on our timetable -- towards something better.
Now, things could still go wrong. It's clear that the minority of the
Sunnis, the minority of the minority that wants a broader war, is doing
everything they can, the bombing in Samarra, attempting to provoke a
civil war,and people get angry. But the sort of clear move of the center
in Iraq is to a kind of a dirty pluralism, if not a pure democracy.

イラクは私達が計画を立てたような形ではなく、
イラク独自の形でより良い形に進んでいくことができる訳です。
スンニ派のごくごく少数が戦争の拡大を望んでいることに
過ぎないことははっきりしています。
しかしイラクの本流の動向は、純粋な民主主義とは言えずとも、
社会的多元主義へと向かっているのです。


ZBIGNIEW BRZEZINSKI:I think Iran has to be engaged,and I am very pleased
that Ambassador Khalilzad has been authorized to talk to the Iranians.
You know, we forget that the Iranians played a very significantly
stabilizing role regarding Afghanistan just several years ago,
and they have a stake in a stable Iraq.
But we also have to engage the other neighbors of Iraq in the process.
And I should really correct myself: I shouldn't say we should engage
them; the Iraqi government should engage them.
And in my view, the sooner we leave, the more legitimacy that government
will have, based on the formula that Walter was talking about,
and the sooner it will be able to talk credibly to the neighbors.
The longer we stay, the worse the war of attrition becomes, the deeper
we'll be drawn in, the more unstable the regime will be, and the higher
the cost to us.

イランの関与は必要です。
イランは、ほんの数年前、アフガニスタン情勢を安定化する
役割を果たしましたが、我々はこのことを忘れています。
イラクが安定化することもイランにとって重要です。
我々はその他のイラク周辺諸国を関与させることも必要です。
失礼、我々ではなく、イラク政府がですね。
アメリカの撤退が早ければ早いほど、イラク政府の正当性は高まるでょう。
周辺諸国との協議も本格的に行われるようになるでしょう。
しかしアメリカの駐留が長引けば、消耗戦が続き、泥沼にはまります。
イラク政府の基盤は不安定になり、アメリカの払うツケは大きくなるでしょう。


GWEN IFILL: Iran, a useful conduit for this?

イランは間を繋ぐ有効な存在ですか。


WALTER RUSSELL MEAD:Look,I think trying to repair U.S.-Iranian relations
or,in a sense, build U.S.-Iranian relations is one of the most important
foreign policy tasks that we have. It's really a tragedy that the U.S.
and Iran are seeing each other in this deeply inimical way.
We, in fact, do have a number of interests in common, and they would
include -- I think we would both like to see a stable Iraq.

私は、アメリカ・イラン関係の修復や関係構築を図ることこそ、
アメリカにとり、最も重要な外交政策だと考えています。
実際、両国は多くの点で利害が一致しているのです。
その一つはイラクの安定を望むということです。