You're the President. What do you do with Iraq? Afghanistan?

[Postman]

eom.

[seriousstan]

1. Can we please have the rule that you can't go back in time?

Too many of these questions illicit responses starting with,"What I wouldn't have done.......".

[Junkdrawer]

2. The Kucinich plan is a good start...

1. The United States must ask the United Nations to manage the oil assets of Iraq until the Iraqi people are self-governing.

2. The United Nations must handle all the contracts: No more Halliburton sweetheart deals, No contracts to Bush Administration insiders, No contracts to campaign contributors. All contracts must be awarded under transparent conditions.

3. The United States must renounce any plans to privatize Iraq. It is illegal under both the Geneva and the Hague Conventions for any nation to invade another nation, seize its assets, and sell those assets. The Iraqi people, and the Iraqi people alone must have the right to determine the future of their country’s resources.

4. The United States must ask the United Nations to handle the transition to Iraqi self-governance. The UN must be asked to help the Iraqi people develop a Constitution. The UN must assist in developing free and fair elections.

5. The United States must agree to pay for what we blew up.

6. The United States must pay reparations to the families of innocent Iraqi civilian noncombatants killed and injured in the conflict.

7. The United States must contribute financially to the UN peacekeeping mission.

8. The United Nations, through its member nations, will commit 130,000 peacekeepers to Iraq on a temporary basis until the Iraqi people can maintain their own security.

9. UN troops will rotate into Iraq, and all U.S. troops will come home.

10. The United States will abandon policies of "preemption" and unilateralism and commit to strengthening the UN.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=1470312

[lonestarnot]

9. Thank you!

[Redstone]

3. Pick up our fucking ball and go the fuck home.

Just like that.

Redstone

[MadMaddie]

5. Right you are Redstone.....

Just like that...

[Redstone]

7. Yes, just like that. Easy is as easy does.

Redstone

[Yupster]

12. But first we must

bring to the USA all the Iraqis who worked with our forces if they want to come.

I don't want another Killing Fields in my lifetime.

[Jigarotta]

4. Olive Oyl gets it.

If I were president, if I were president,
There'd be at least ten months of June,
For folks to spend their honeymoon,
And night winds would all have the sweetest scent.
If I were president.
If I were president, if I were president,
Silk worms in every house would grow
And they would all be on the go
(In case there were a stocking accident).
If I were president.
There'd be lampposts like you've never seen.
And streets would all be spotless clean!
If I were president, if I were president,
I'd have a cure that would work right,
For those who couldn't sleep at night.
The time they spent awake would be well-spent.
If I were president. If I were president.
If I were president, if I were president,
The dogs whose habits all were strange
Would undergo a brand new change.
An all-day cone would cost a cent.
If I were president.
If I were president, if I were president,
Each bus would have a smoother run,
With lots of seats for everyone.
Apartments once again would be for rent.
If I were president.
There would be no wrangling anymore,
For drumsticks that fell short before.
If I were president, if I were president,
I'd pick up feminine morale,
And get a man for every gal.
More holidays would get my strong consent.
If I were president.

She's a jolly good female,
She's a jolly good female,
She's a jolly good female.
We love our president.

[napi21]

6. I would give the new Iraq gov't a time table to get their act together.

I would commit to all the training they need or want, provide all the amunition, and ground and air power they think they need, but I would tell them that based upon that commitment, I am pulling out 25% of our troops in 6 months, another 25% in 12 months, another in 18 months, and we will be gone in 42 months, so it's THEIR Country, and they better tell their people they have to get it together, or we're on our own by July 1, 2008!

The troops I pulled out of Iraq would be committed to Afghan for a period of time. Take an very agresive approach against the Taliban, and push them down! I would then tell them the same as I told Iraq! After a specific time, it's your Country....you need to handle it!

[RethugAssKicker]

10. Boy, you sound as if we were called in by the Iraqi Govt to help

them in a civil war... They have to get their act together???

We caused this shit. Our country invaded a innocent sovereign nation.

[bdamomma]

11. 87% of Iraqis want us out

they want control of their own country, we can not force democracy or freedom or whatever you want to call it on them.

87% of Iraqis want us out, these people want to take the reins, however, the bush cabal has other plans for them.

[Roland99]

8. How to “fix” Iraq? Is it even possible?

As for what I would do in Iraq, cutting and running is a BS term. We are currently in a no-win situation. We don’t have enough combat troops in Iraq to properly secure the cities, much less the borders. Our own military commanders have said their missions are futile as the insurgents vacate the area and then come right back. Our presence in Iraq is one hellaciously costly game of Whack-a-Mole. And, there are a helluva lot more of them than there are of us.

Sending over more American troops or other “coalition” troops isn’t an answer either. We’d have to send over at least triple what’s there now and engage in very heavy-handed tactics that will result in massive casualties on each side. We’d have to be Katrina to Iraq. Not only will it be expensive in lives, but in dollars, as well. Dollars we no longer have to spend.

“Staying the course” isn’t accomplishing us anything right now. The insurgents and the foreign fighters move about at will, jumping from city to city. Various cities within Iraq have also regressed to Taliban-like rule with very little freedom for the citizens of those cities (at least those that aren’t killed for looking at someone wrong or not wearing a burqa or seen leaving a liquor store or….). We don’t have enough troops in Iraq to maintain security and properly train the Iraqi security forces.

One thing not talked about much is the infiltration of the Iraqi government and the security forces by insurgents or people supportive of them. The CPA’s disbanding of the entire Iraqi Army has come back to bite the provisional gov’t in the ass…hard. And, treating the Sunnis and all Ba’athists as the enemy has been another mistake. These people held power for decades and were not going to run away and hide and take the new government lying down.

A second thing that doesn’t get mentioned much is the billions of dollars that just up and disappeared. You can bank on a lot of that money going into the hands of the insurgency and elsewhere in addition to corrupt politicians and businessmen. The insurgency isn’t hurting for cash.

Neither are they hurting for explosives and weaponry as the ammo dumps that went unguarded, like al Qaaqa, at the beginning of the invasion were looted of their wares and are now being used to kill our men and women in addition to innocent Iraqi civilians.

So, “staying the course” will not accomplish anything but increasing the body count of “coalition” troops as well as push us further into deficit spending.

No, the only option is a full withdrawal from Iraq. And I mean leaving behind the plans for permanent military bases, too. No Western military presence in Iraq. BUT, before we do that, it would be helpful if we could get *some* assurances from other Arab nations to help Iraq secure itself and to remove incentives for terrorists to flourish. It’s time the Middle East began taking care of itself. They can’t live in their own little world. They are part of global trade and need to step up their standing to be worthwhile global citizens. It’s something this administration should have been pressing for from the outset instead of stupidly going to war based on trumped up and falsified intelligence.

Will there be a continued danger of terrorists flourishing for a while? Sure. But staying isn’t going to change that either. Bush screwed the pooch…and he screwed it hard. It’s time to set things on the best long-term approach and our military presence in the Mideast is not part of that solution.