OK Dana, I hear you say. Where is your magic pony plan?
Here it is.
- Secure the safety of our men and women, by withdrawing all in-country troops to secure bases.
- Promise to take them all out following a negotiated settlement.
- Talk to everyone. EVERYONE. Use the UN, use Iran, use the devil himself if need be. Just get people talking instead of blowing each other up.
- Be prepared to pay reparations based on a valid peace agreement, to a designated regime which proves it can control the country. That’s the incentive for coming to a settlement.
- Follow the agreement, and get our people home safely.
The first priority at this point is keeping our own people alive, minimizing the further damage we do to the cradle of civilization. Forget face-saving. Forget victory. We no longer have a face to save. We lost. You got a problem with that, take it up with the idiot who bungled this war.
Now, how does this compare with what so-called "experts" are saying?
- Folks on the right say blow the place up. (Already done that, sorry.)
- Some wanker on the left suggested bringing back Saddam Hussein. (Think we ought to ask the Iraqis first?)
- The Baker Boys suggest adding 20,000 more people to the meat grinder and waiting six months to see what happens. (Screw that.)
I figure my pony plan is as good as anyone’s. And it’s got its priority in
the right place. With the troops. Support the troops. Stop getting them
killed for no reason.
We owe them that.
I’ll play too:
Redefine the mission as preparing Iraq to provide for its own security. This should be done as follows.
A. Define mission end date of no more than 18 months in the future. Whether the mission is a success or failure it ends on or before that date and all forces are removed from Iraq and Middle East forces are reduced to pre-invasion levels.
B. Priority one is the safety of US/allied personnel involved in the mission. Any other US/allied personnel should leave immediately or be prepared to work with the Iraqi government to assure their own security.
C. Priority two is training of Iraqi military.
D. There are no other priorities. All matters not related to safety of US/allied mission personnel involved in Iraqi millitary training are immediately the responsibility of the Iraqi government.
I’ll play too:
Redefine the mission as preparing Iraq to provide for its own security. This should be done as follows.
A. Define mission end date of no more than 18 months in the future. Whether the mission is a success or failure it ends on or before that date and all forces are removed from Iraq and Middle East forces are reduced to pre-invasion levels.
B. Priority one is the safety of US/allied personnel involved in the mission. Any other US/allied personnel should leave immediately or be prepared to work with the Iraqi government to assure their own security.
C. Priority two is training of Iraqi military.
D. There are no other priorities. All matters not related to safety of US/allied mission personnel involved in Iraqi millitary training are immediately the responsibility of the Iraqi government.