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. Withdraw U.S. forces By Richard E. Rubenstein Question: When is a conquering army a liberator rather than an occupier? Answer: When it leaves the conquered country and lets the local people decide their own fate. During the past five months, Iraq has turned into a tar-paper trap worthy of Br'er Rabbit. The more we try to win the war against anti-American and anti-British guerrillas there, the more we become stuck in a no-win situation. Violent attacks against the occupying troops, their allies and their Iraqi collaborators have taken place at the rate of approximately 13 assaults per day, and the pace is stepping up. Unfortunately, the measures adopted by U.S. forces to combat the resisters are virtually guaranteed to expand and strengthen the resistance movement. Mass sweeps and arrests, the establishment of detention camps, harsh questioning (if not torture) of suspects to extract information, nullification of ordinary court procedures, hair-trigger responses to apparent threats and postponement of political reforms. Measures such as these are certain to enrage a people who are already hostile to foreign occupation. The predictable results are an increase in guerrilla recruits, intensified repression by occupation forces and an ever-escalating spiral of violence. It makes no difference that some of the resistance forces are Islamic extremists from other Arab countries. Foreign occupation attracts these militants to Iraq, just as it alienates the Iraqis who suffered most under Saddam Hussein's rule. Already, leaders of Iraq's Shiite majority have declared that resisting the occupation is a religious duty. If they carry out their threats to join the armed resistance, Iraq will become another Vietnam. Before this happens, we should withdraw our forces in an orderly fashion, abandon our attempt to administer the country as a neo-colony and give Iraq back to its citizens. The Shiite, Sunni, Kurdish and Turkmen communities need facilitators to help them decide their own future, not occupiers and their handpicked "representatives" to decide it for them. Clearly, the United States and Britain lack the credibility needed to do this essential job. As the tragic bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad shows, the U.N. is no more credible as long as it functions as an arm of the occupation authority. A multinational team of facilitators agreed to by leaders of the major Iraqi communities is what the Iraqis need to take possession of their own land and resources. "Staying the course" has a noble ring, but "Don't tread on me" is more to the point. Of all people, the heirs of 1776 should understand the difference between a foreign occupation and national liberation. Richard E. Rubenstein is a professor of conflict resolution and public affairs at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., and author of six books on political and religious conflict including Aristotle's Children, to be published by Harcourt in October.
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