This is the full text of Donald Rumsfeld’s Memo of Options for Iraq War suggesting new options for Iraq that was sent to the White House just before the mid-term Congressional elections and his resignation. It recognized that Iraq was a bit of a problem in that some change was needed to the current strategy, since he states that what U.S. forces are currently doing in Iraq is not working well enough or fast enough.

The current Bush/Cheney position is flawed because of the weakness of the Nouri Al Maliki Iraqi government, its inability to be a unity government, and its lack of capacity and willingness to stem the rising violence in Iraq. Hence the White House is considering options. Those options do involve a questioning of the US as an empire and the rhetoric of the global war on terror. These are a given.

My eye went to the options Rumsfeld did not find particularly attractive, namely :
*Move a large fraction of all U.S. Forces into Baghdad to attempt to control it.

*Increase Brigade Combat Teams and U.S. forces in Iraq substantially.

*Set a firm withdrawal date to leave. Declare that with Saddam gone and Iraq a sovereign nation, the Iraqi people can govern themselves. Tell Iran and Syria to stay out.

*Assist in accelerating an aggressive federalism plan, moving towards three separate states — Sunni, Shia, and Kurd.

*Try a Dayton-like process.

The memo's bottom line is to make small changes to the current Bush/Cheney position of 'staying the course.'