Getting Them Home By Christmas
This is my plan for getting US troops home by Christmas while not dropping Iraq into chaos.
1. Go Shopping
No matter how well trained or equipped, infantry are still more vulnerable than armored forces. Allowing Iraqi forces access to older Iraqi tanks and allowing them to purchase old T-models from ex-Soviet nations would boost their combat strength immensely. There would be little danger to US troops, which I assume is the main argument against fully arming the Iraqi army, since these would be the same tanks that were destroyed by the dozens in the two Gulf wars and no Iraqis would be too willing to try their luck again. Furthermore, establishing an effective ground-attack air force is equally important to the Iraqi's ability to counter the insurgency on their own. Without these weapons, they are little more than a police force.
2. Federate Iraq
The Bush administration has embraced a "united Iraq" governing strategy from the beginning, which is a further point of evidence of the incompetence of the administration. Holding together arbitrary lines drawn on a map one hundred years ago by imperialists in London, taking no account of ethnicity or religion, is achievable only by a despot such as Hussein was. You can have a united Iraq, or you can have a free Iraq. You cannot have both.
The plan, therefore, is for a federated Iraq. Split the country among ethnic borders, forming three seperate regions, each self-governing. All functions are controlled by the regional government, except for the maintenance of a national currency and a national, fully integrated military. The former fosters a sense of economic unity, and a commercial simplicity; the latter keeps the semi-independent regions from engaging in internecine warfare. Paramilitary organizations, including militias, would have to be banned. By keeping the groups seperate, each could rule themselves and sectarian tensions would be able to be reduced. The Kurds have maintained a semi-autonomous state in the north for 15 years, and they are the most developed region in the country.
1. Go Shopping
No matter how well trained or equipped, infantry are still more vulnerable than armored forces. Allowing Iraqi forces access to older Iraqi tanks and allowing them to purchase old T-models from ex-Soviet nations would boost their combat strength immensely. There would be little danger to US troops, which I assume is the main argument against fully arming the Iraqi army, since these would be the same tanks that were destroyed by the dozens in the two Gulf wars and no Iraqis would be too willing to try their luck again. Furthermore, establishing an effective ground-attack air force is equally important to the Iraqi's ability to counter the insurgency on their own. Without these weapons, they are little more than a police force.
2. Federate Iraq
The Bush administration has embraced a "united Iraq" governing strategy from the beginning, which is a further point of evidence of the incompetence of the administration. Holding together arbitrary lines drawn on a map one hundred years ago by imperialists in London, taking no account of ethnicity or religion, is achievable only by a despot such as Hussein was. You can have a united Iraq, or you can have a free Iraq. You cannot have both.
The plan, therefore, is for a federated Iraq. Split the country among ethnic borders, forming three seperate regions, each self-governing. All functions are controlled by the regional government, except for the maintenance of a national currency and a national, fully integrated military. The former fosters a sense of economic unity, and a commercial simplicity; the latter keeps the semi-independent regions from engaging in internecine warfare. Paramilitary organizations, including militias, would have to be banned. By keeping the groups seperate, each could rule themselves and sectarian tensions would be able to be reduced. The Kurds have maintained a semi-autonomous state in the north for 15 years, and they are the most developed region in the country.
posted by Jimmy at 9:55 PM
<< Home