Iraqi solutions for Iraqi problems

WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- Top U.S. military and diplomatic officials said it's time to step aside and help Iraqis develop Iraqi solutions for Iraqi problems.

The past rhetoric of the Bush administration regarding a strong central government there has led to a more bubble-up system of Iraqi reconstruction, as Iraqi community groups and joint coalition-Iraqi units clear neighborhoods of insurgent strongholds, The Washington Post said Thursday.

U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker noted that it was Iraqi resourcefulness that led to an oil revenue distribution system without legislation and that local and provincial governments that are increasingly effective.

Crocker told the Post the bubble-up system is an approach that indicates a new mentality in Washington meaning the United States is "increasingly prepared to say it's got to be done in Iraqi terms."

Critics said the approach indicated plans to establish a Western-style state system isn't working and say "Iraqi solutions" implies a pessimistic ignorance of sectarian and political violence at the cost of redeploying from Iraq.

Advocates to the "Iraqi solutions" strategy said the ground-level revision of the strategy reflects an Iraqi vision of its post-conflict future, the Post said.

The new strategy, some officials in Baghdad said, suggested U.S. strategists are merely looking for a strategy that works.