Your favored Iraq strategy?

[Stinky The Clown]

[Redstone]

1. Pick up our stuff and come home. It's pretty simple.

Redstone

[Clarkie1]

30. It is pretty simple...

to say that.

[blm]

36. It's ILLOGICAL to claim it can be done in 1-2 months. It takes AT LEAST 6 months

to undertake a logistic military pullout.

Husb should amend his post to offer the July date that had been the target of Kerry-Feingold.

[Erika]

2. Know when to fold our cards and cut the losses

We owe that to our troops.

[Radical Activist]

3. Just get out.

The presence of US troops is the principle source and cause of instability. The nation will stabilize on its own after we leave, and only after we leave. Those who believe stability can be achieved while US troops remain in the country are denying the basic human nature of the Iraqi people who natrually resent their nation being occupied by a foreign army.

[mike_c]

4. get out now-- as soon as possible....

The war against Iraq is a crime against humanity. How long should we prolong it?

[Warpy]

5. issue a time table for each area, north to south.

Let whatever leadership in the area know that maintaining any sort of order is going to be their job on that day. Then leave on schedule.

Yes, those people are probably going to continue the carnage for a while, but they'd do that whether or not our military provided extra targets.

When some sort of government shakes out, either nationally or regionally, arrange to have rebuilding materials delivered through a third country. Remember, we don't have to like their government and probably won't. We've devastated their country and killed their families and we owe them.

The last part of this is calling the neocon establishment to account for this war. That means charging them and trying them. Unless we do this, there will be no restoration of our place in the world. We have to prove that the last few years were an aberration, not business as usual.

Keep in mind that the Iraqis' ancestors had an advanced civilization when our European ancestors were painting themselves blue and throwing rocks at each other. We have to trust that they will do so again, even if it isn't the type of civilization we ourselves would choose.

[Stinky The Clown]

6. Yanno .... that's the most rational plan I've seen yet.

Kudos. :thumbsup:

[snowbear]

12. That's 'cause it's General Clark's plan...

~~ ~~

[youthere]

31. Clark is da' man!

[Pithy Cherub]

7. That actually works for me practically

as much as I would love to demand a fleet of C-130's right now, if not six months ago! We owe an attempt in smaller units as described. :applause:

[drb]

11. If you run for office, I'll vote for you!

nt

[Warpy]

18. Thanks for the pat on the back

but my closet's stuffed with skeletons from the sixties and they're PARTYING! There is no way all those nice churchgoing folks would ever vote for me.

[krispos42]

8. Start from urban to rural, center to north and south

Divide the country up into 25 "counties", each county having about a million people in it. The highest concentration of counties will be in Baghdad. Move a ton of Iraqi army forces into the first county, then withdraw US forces over the next two weeks. Then every two weeks, move Iraqi forces into the next county on the list. Publish a timetable and an order of withdrawal so the people can start celebrating. Pull our forces our of Baghdad and work gradually north, into Turkey, and south, into waiting US ships and aircraft. Home in time for Christmas.

Leave a brigade of seaborne Marines and a couple of carriers in the Gulf as an insurance policy.

[bananas]

9. As Snagglepuss used to say, "Exit, stage left!"

[drb]

10. In the immortal words of Pat Paulsen, "I think we should....

...just continue messing around the way we are!"

[katsy]

13. Other

Hold the talks with Iraq's neighbors and if the meetings hold little hope... call an emergency meeting at the UN - tell them we're getting out now and request the UN's assistance to stabilize Iraq.

Send in the UN and pay for the costs to stabilize the country.

The only thing not negotiable is that we get out. And if possible, we should get Iraqi refugees out of there with us. We broke it, but maybe we could relocate some of the innocents out of that bloodbath.

[Tesha]

14. Partition the country, leave.

Partition the country and leave.

Iraq was a fraudulent country, patched together from at least
two and more likely three separate peoples. Let them now go
their own way: Kurdistan to the North, and separate Sunni
and Shia enclaves to the South.

The Shiites will probably ally with Iran, but hey, that was
what Saddam was good at preventing, and we tossed him out, so
we can now suffer the consequences of our reckless, unthinking,
counter-strategic actions.

And Turkey can pound sand as the ponder their own oppression
of Kurdistan.

Tesha

[MrCoffee]

16. because partitioning worked so well for india/pakistan and the middle east?

[Tesha]

17. At least there's no hot war between India and Pakistan.

> because partitioning worked so well for india/pakistan and the middle east?

At least there's no hot war raging between India and Pakistan.

And until we deposed the strongman in Iraq, the Middle East
was mostly under control and a temporarily-peaceful place
(excepting, of course, the perenial problem between the
Israelis and the Palestinians).

And since you don't like my solution, where's yours?

Tesha

[Warpy]

19. Is partitioning THEIR country OUR job?

Somehow, I don't think so.

[Tesha]

20. It's de facto almost accomplished already.

Kurdistan clearly exists already.

And Shiistan and Sunnistan (yes, I made those up)
are rapidly sorting themselves out at gunpoint.
We could just help a little with the logistics
and then vamoose.

Tesha

[Warpy]

21. It's STILL not our job

This whole foofaraw between Sunnis and Shiites wouldn't have happened without the hamfisted interference of Britain in the last century, trying to establish borders that didn't really reflect what was going on with sects, clans and families.

Interfering in this thing is the LAST thing we need to do. It's not our job. It's theirs.

[Clarkie1]

28. You think we have the power just to cut up countries however we fancy?

Just askin'...

[Tesha]

34. We would simply be cutting the country up to match the current reality.

> You think we have the power just to cut up countries
> however we fancy?

Of course not, and don't be obtuse or try to put words
in my mouth. We would simply be cutting the country up
to match the current reality.

Kurdistan is already a reality. For example, it is
against the law there now to display the *IRAQI*
flag (the nominal flag of the nation they supposedly
belong to).

Shiistan and Sunnistan are more problematic, but
those two peoples are busy sorting themselves out
right now.

Tesha

[SOS]

15. Province by province referendums

With one question:
"Should the US stay or leave?"
Let the people of Iraq decide.

[slackmaster]

22. Hand it off to France

Let them figure it out.

[Greyhound]

23. Surrender to the inevitable, partition and hand it over to the U.N. n/t

We've done all the damage we can do and pretty well ensured that it cannot be fixed, by us at any rate, so the best we can hope for is that someone else can help them out of our mess.

[TayTay]

24. I answered other

I think we need to get out in 4-6 months. That's cuz I think that's how long it will take to get out of Iraq. That is as quick as it can be done.

[Vinca]

25. Pull up stakes and head on out.

It will be very bad in Iraq, but it will be very bad 2 weeks from now, 2 months from now or 2 years from now. Shrub made this tragic mess, but nothing this country can do now will make it better. Very sad.

[happydreams]

26. The plan that saves the most US lives. IMO #1

[Clarkie1]

29. Or the plan that saves the most lives? nt

[Guaranteed]

33. LOL what plan is that?

Isn't it a shitload of dead one way, another shitload the other?

It's a civil war. They're going to kill each other in massive, massive numbers, whenever it is we leave. But we have to leave.

Why not just try to cut our own losses?

[IndianaGreen]

27. I don't want to see the troops having to fight their way out of the country

it is better to get them out now, before it is too late.

[ejbrush]

32. Other

My plan involve raising the current military commitment to approx. 26,074,906 troops on the ground, and assigning them to watch one Iraqi citizen each. All day. No, wait, we need 52,149,812 soliders - so we can watch each Iraqi even while they're sleeping, just in case. Yeah, that should be enough. Better get working on that draft, eh?
Seriously, though, the only right thing to do is to call it quits and come home. Every day results in the waste of more of our kids.

[hasssan1]

35. I hate to Say it , but

Saddam was a great guy to control that country. DON'T get me wrong. he is a POS Killer who killed So many of my people ( i am from IRAN ) but when he was at power, you wouldn't see 160 IRAQI people blown up every day or getting torched and killed by their own IRAQI people.

[loyalsister]

37. Get over ourselves and re-evaluate.....

I saw a post about making finding peace and it got me thinking. I have been thinking about parts of it all along.

Possibly:
We should admit finding peace should be a priority over "winning"

Make it about making Iraq a peaceful country to live in and restoring a stable and peaceful quality of life for them.
I think we should admit that we owe them that.

We get our eyes off the oil and truly help with their economic development.

We would admit that our culture should not be imposed via democracy and they may not have what we consider a democracy by the end of this process. We may have to accept the possibility of a theocratic democracy or not even democracy. We have to be open to what kinds of negotiations other countries can arrive at. We may not look like "winners or heroes or anything resembling." I think we should get over it.

They may have some theocratic principles in their constitution that we don't like. (Treatment of women, etc) We need to get over it and let private human rights groups worry about it down the road.

If we can find some humility and make a sincere effort to surrounding countries in a peace process, (including Iran!)
I wonder if it would it be possible for the various sects to find enough common ground to do that?

Think in terms of possibilities rather than absolutes for now, even where the troops are concerned. I am not sure what kinds of contributions they could make to a peace process. I am not convinced that it is not possible.
I feel like it is important for us to admit that this war is not about us despite our concerns about our own contributions. We should not abdicate responsibility for concern over what our country has done anymore than we should allow others to abdicate responsibility to give a damn about genocide in Africa.