April 14, 2008
As Gen. David Petraeus and Amb. Ryan Crocker struggle to answer the question, "when can we leave Iraq?" they focus on the security component of withdrawing U.S. troops. But there is another crucial task that is frequently overlooked: getting Iraq on a development path. After a three-week, Humvee-riding, body-armor-wearing expedition to areas of Iraq only rarely seen by visitors, CGD vice president Dennis de Tray offers suggestions on how to leverage recent security gains into development success with a focus on the areas that people care about most: jobs and basic services.