Former US presidential advisor Brzezinski presents plan to quit Iraq

By AFP

03/31/06 "Khaleej Times" -- -- WARSAW - Polish-born former US national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski has put together a four-point plan for the United States to withdraw from Iraq, he told private Polish television TVN24.

The plan would allow Washington to disengage gradually in Iraq, ”without victory, but also without defeat,” said Brzezinski, who worked for US President Jimmy Carter.

The first step would involve “Washington suggesting to the Iraqi authorities that they publicly ask the United States to pull out of Iraq,” he said.

Next, a date would be set for US troops to be pulled out, following which the Iraqi government should invite its neighbours to a “regional conference of Muslim countries” aimed at stabilising the situation in Iraq, Brzezinski said.

Lastly, the United States should call an international conference to discuss funding for the reconstruction of Iraq.

“I think that a programme such as this one, set up in the space of one year, would close the affair in such a way that we might not be able to speak of a clear victory, but also not of defeat or running away,” Brzezinski said.

Poland, which has backed the US-led military campaign in Iraq since it began three years ago, should work with Washington to make the plan reality, said Brzezinski, stressing that the intended end result was “in the interests of both countries.”

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