Christian Democrats in the United States
Global Issues - IraqThe U.S. mission should be to bring Syria, Saudi Arabia and Iran to the table to stop the balkanization of Iraq. Front-line troops should be empowered with effective body armor, armored vehicles and more non-lethal weapons, as well as discretionary humanitarian budgets. Every single field soldier should be required to work on training courses for local languages and criminal justice, each at least a half hour a day five days a week.
The U.S. should loan against oil futures to Iraq for public works employment in the style of the New Deal, beginning with the Hanging Gardens, and should equip Iraqi police forces adequately with trackable equipment. Offensive sieges of Iraqi cities only serve to recruit more resistance and must come to an end by pushing Iraqi forces into greater responsibility now. The U.S. must develop a withdrawal timeline that allows us peace with honor in Iraq but will not leave the Iraqi people to suffer at the hands of religious terrorists.
World War I started in the Balkans area of eastern Europe when small fighting factions got the support of different major European powers. Because those major powers were ruled by short-sighted idiots with big egos and personal agendas who refused to talk directly to each other, all of Europe collapsed into war. We cannot let this happen anywhere in a nuclear age. The United States can talk civilly with its rivals without sacrificing our values. It is impossible to negotiate with terrorists, but nevertheless, lines of communication should not be closed, to leave the door open for reasonable people caught up in the war who want to return to peaceful society.
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]hanging gardens of baghdad
There is a current map maintained by the U.S. military at this link.Using a modular, pre-fabricated design, girder construction could start at the water treatment plant south of the University of Baghdad, which would pump water through the gardens and use that as a natural filter mechanism. (This is why organic fertilizer and pest control methods are required.)
In addition to suspension foot-bridges over the river, the modular walkway/planters span along the center of streets, and can be taken down easily and re-arranged when needed. They also provide strategic benefit combating snipers by giving a patrol route above the buildings. A modular, easily constructed system lets many Iraqi companies take part from all over the country, shipping in the pieces by rail.
Girder construction could proceed north over the Tigris, winding through the University of Baghdad and across the Al Jadriyah bridge, over and around the new presidential palace to Zawra park.
Then north-west over the central railroad station and train yards, to filter the air.
Also branch north-east from the train yard over the Hospital, finding a way to the power plant at Sarafiya bridge and reconnecting to the main route, where another water filter processing plant can be built.
There could be a separate branch from Baghdad university down airport road to the main airport, and another over the police college reaching out to the Sadr city neighborhood.
After filtering waste water from the sewer, waste water can be filtered again through the gardens before dumping it into the river. Water from the river can be directly cycled through the hanging gardens to purify the river.
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