There Is No Way ‘Out of Iraq’

When men as important as former Senator George S. McGovern and historian William R. Polk ’51 write a book entitled, “Out of Iraq: A Practical Plan for Withdrawal Now,” people tend to take notice. It’s too bad if anyone did here.

The bulk of “Out of Iraq” is a recitation of historical British and American blunders in the Middle East, followed by an excoriation of the Bush administration’s conduct in the present war. “In previous chapters we have discussed why America must get out of Iraq,” McGovern and Polk write on page 91 of their 127-page book. “Here we will lay out a plan to show how our exit might be accomplished.” Someone apparently forgot to tell them the only people who read a book by George McGovern entitled “Out of Iraq” already know the war isn’t going swimmingly.

Worse still, the 26 pages of the book that are actually devoted to laying out a plan for withdrawal—as the title promises—are filled with mediocre, tired, and vague proposals.

McGovern and Polk are decent historians—some readers will enjoy reading their quick, yet reasonably detailed, history of Iraq—and they certainly write clearly and expressively. The problem is that the book—like the administration it criticizes—promises one thing and delivers another.

The short plan contained in “Out of Iraq” does have its provocative parts. McGovern and Polk call for releasing all prisoners of war and closing of all detention centers, withdrawing American forces from the Green Zone, and allowing the Iraqi government to void petroleum contracts signed by the American-run government. But the plan quickly slides into clichés, advocating such things as more funding for Iraqi civil society, more humanitarian assistance, and a greater role for intergovernmental institutions.

More than anything, McGovern and Polk call for a better handling of Iraq’s reconstruction, saying that the U.S. should model its efforts on the rebuilding of Germany after World War II. Not only do the authors fail to provide any meaningful guidance on how Iraq can be rebuilt in the midst of a civil war, they devote only three pages of text to reconstruction, which, as in 2003, just doesn’t seem to be a sexy topic.

As a result, we are still left wondering how the U.S. can rebuild Iraq up to the point that an American withdrawal would be diplomatically—and morally—acceptable.

Perhaps the only way that the occupation can be brought to a close is through a change in the American administration. It seems, then, that the same problem that plagued Senator John F. Kerry in 2004 plagues McGovern and Polk: It’s hard to articulate in plan form exactly how to manage Iraq differently.

The best plan, after all, is to avoid total incompetence.

—Reviewer Paras D. Bhayani can be reached at pbhayani@fas.harvard.edu.

Out of Iraq
By George McGovern and William R. Polk '51
Simon & Schuster
Out Now