Reply #19: War.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

The Kucinich plan is not Peace with Honor. It's War with Idiocy, much like our current policy. His idea rests upon the same tired "Just give it to the UN and everything will be fine" nonsense that's been sprayed like graffiti all over this place, with no real regard for the consequences, or even likelihood of such actions taking place.
Consider, for a moment, that you are the prime minister or president or ruthless dictator of a country. You are asked, by the UN, to provide peacekeeping troops for Iraq. The number hasn't been stated, but the general assumption here has been that it will be upwards of our current strength of 130,000. Let's say, then, that your contribution will be 10,000 troops.
Well now, let's see... what possible tangible benefits do you derive from sending your troops into a war zone where some of them will surely die? This is not East Timor or even the former Yugoslavia. This is an active war zone, and improvised explosive devices are the bane of government officials everywhere.
Would YOU send YOUR people off to die? Wearing the blue helmet does not make you immune from gunfire & explosives & death. After what we have done to the UN, I highly doubt that many of its member states will be jumping with joy at the thought of boby bags/boxes/coffins coming home in pursuit of some vague notion of a "free" Iraq, a notion to which they did not subscribe in the first place. And, quite frankly, the idea that we can just hand this whole thing off to the UN, to let troops from other countries get killed in our place, is mortal stupid cowardice. We have few options left, and Peace with Honor is not one of them. Hell, Peace Without Honor is not one of them. There is only war. War war war. War which we have started, and war which we must conclude in some fashion, lest we undermine the stability of what is, in our current situation, the most strategically vital area of the globe as far as US interests are concerned.
We have failed misreably. Miserable Failure, yes. And we will not leave now, rest assured of that much. That position is political suicide for anyone who attempts it, so really it isn't even worth discussing. We are there and we will stay there, and no amount of wounded screaming will result in our departure. So ponder, if you will, what actions we could take RIGHT NOW to restore some sort of normalcy to that country. Many people have suggested handing over responsibility for the reconstruction work to Iraqis. Perhaps that's a good start, but I've managed to go woefully off-topic with this drunken ramble, and it must be immediately aborted.

Good night! :)