Iraq. We broke it. We own it. That is understandable. After that the problem is so complex that it is difficult to apply sound reasoning to the problem of finding a replacement for a strongman (Saddam) form of government for Iraq. The country has no history, no experience in running a democratic form of government. That experiment is doomed to failure. It will fail as the country falls into civil war. Exclude the Kurds for the moment and just look at the differences between the major religious groups. We have to conclude that enough blood has not yet been spilled in Iraq to slake their mutual blood lust and desire for killing. Their desires for revenge killing has not yet been fulfilled. Our generals are not stupid. They know that fighting in an urban environment is the most dangerous type of warfare. It is in cities with limited visibility and limited maneuverability that casualties mount quickly. That was why they asked for large numbers of troops early in the planning for the war, because they were being asked to take and hold huge urban areas. They got fired for their pains. The survivors learned to shut up and carefully rephrase their statements. The U.S. has controlled most of Iraq since Gulf One. Our military needs room to maneuver. Our troops need sighting distances and clear fields of fire. We do not need to get out of Iraq. We need to get out of Iraqi cities. There is nothing in Iraqi cities that we need. The electricity, water and sewer systems do not work. The Iraqis do not need them either, or they would not be so eager to destroy everything. I simply propose to let them do what they want. Why keep our personnel in the meat grinders of the cities? Get our people out into the countryside where they can use their combat skills and equipment effectively. Leave the cities to the feuding factions of Iraqi society. Let them kill each other to their hearts content. We will talk with and work with the survivors. We can establish secure bases in the remote countryside which can be defended from “insurgents” and from which we can continue the air cover umbrella. We will know when it is time for reconciliation peace talks. When finally enough blood has washed the streets of Iraqi cities, the exhausted survivors will send delegations under white flags to the waiting peace talk tables in our tents. If enough blood has been spilled, they will be able, with a reasonably skilled moderator, to come to terms with each other. Without this understanding, we are wasting our time, treasure and lives. We cannot rebuild Iraq with all sides eager to destroy the new infrastructure. It may well be that there is no future for a country called Iraq as we now know it. It was an artificial creation of a country from the beginning. It could only be held together by a repressive political strongman. Perhaps we can be wise enough to accept this fact and move on to a new realization of the new facts. Perhaps there really does need to be three countries: a Kurdistan, a Euphrates, and a smaller Iraq? That would really be nation building. They might even be forced to learn how to get along with each other to survive. We do have some experience in nation building. We have had some practice in the past. We could use that knowledge. It cannot happen until the conditions are right. One of those conditions is to let the Iraqis settle their issues with themselves, no matter how bloody the result. If only one group survives, we can work with that group. Perhaps the Kurds will win by default? Of the three groups, the Kurds seem to me to be the one group with which the U.S. should most easily create a new reality in the Middle East. They are strongly linguistically and socially unified and have huge exploitable natural resources to bankroll their development as a country and a culture. In addition, all of the above, most importantly sidelines Iraq and allows us to get back on track to finding Osama, destroying al Quida, and attacking the roots of the Islamic fascists.
(c) Copyright 2006: George Wallace recently published a book on religion which lashes out at nearly all of the comfortable ideas about God, the trappings of organized religion, and the priesthood. His pithy comments and suggestions for a return to a God-centered personal religion will interest everyone. This article may be freely reprinted so long as all copyright attributions, and the full content of this resource box are included. www.OhGodIsThatYou.com
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