All eyes on Iraq

As for Iraq, America is not blessed with many choices although it is evident that the US cannot solely rely on its small coalition of the willing that logically seeks to avoid deploying boots on the ground as far as possible.

The so-called moderate Arab caucus of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan, among others, have their hands full legitimising American presence in Iraq to their own domestic populations. The US would need to be willing to coalesce support from a larger constituency of Arab countries, including Syria and Iran, and even nationalist groups such as Hamas and political actors like Hezbollah, however implausible it sounds.

Armed with a strategy to discuss and address root causes of terrorism, the US polity is likely to begin the slow process of rebuilding trust among peoples and cultures that have lost faith in America. It is in this context that a calibrated withdrawal strategy is likely to find a host.

Unfortunately for the Democrats, the expectations vis-à-vis Iraq are immense and it would not be too far-fetched to suggest that they could crumble under this burden and send Iraq into a spiral, if it is not in one already. The political demand for a complete withdrawal is likely to be strong and the Republicans could well force a political gridlock, thus exacerbating the quagmire in Iraq.

However, the prize for sowing the seeds of a successful Iraq policy should serve to inspire the Democratic Party. Not only could it represent a shoo-in for a Democratic president in 2008, it would open the door to second attempt at defining a "new world order” that seems to have gone horribly wrong.