Christian Democrats in the United States

The 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.

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Sunday, May 6, 2007 3:15 PM

a new deal in Iraq

A lot of Americans who have been to Iraq or even seen brief glimpses into the reality, like Occupation: Dreamland, saw the honesty in the eyes of the Iraqis, but it was mis-translated into what the translators thought the Americans wanted to hear. Americans don't want to hear that Iraqis have submitted their honor as human beings. Americans want to hear the Iraqis stand up for their honor — that's the whole point — and no one likes getting guns pointed in their faces, we know that, neither do we. That's why a lot of people value how George Bush stands up and represents their hope and anger. Or anger and hope? Which order do those go in? Are they incompatible?

Anyway, in that movie, the Falloujah men who spoke up said they wanted justice, that is, going after people who clearly committed acts, not random firing or wanting to kill people just for running away, and they wanted jobs. Then GW sent in the Marines to crush them, and the Marines did their job. It just doesn't make sense.

I've been having a hard time figuring out what to write about jobs. I can figure out what jobs aren't or shouldn't be. Enron, Halliburton, those aren't jobs, they're just a way to get money for ourselves while spinning in a lot of circles giving off the appearance of productivity. That's the only kind of job George Bush understands, because that's the only kind of job he's ever had. The mission needs to be to create jobs and provide security for the workers. Well, mesopotamia was at one time the center of world culture, and now it's FUBAR.

Iraq's hot. Needs to start with gardens. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were one of the wonders of the ancient world. Islam is against all forms of idolatry and doesn't have a good sense of humor about it, but as far as I can tell, it really appreciates the wonders of creation.

Pay Iraqi architects throughout the bidding process on an aerial girder system over Baghdad, on which to run waterworks and plant gardens. Fund Iraqi companies with incentivized timescales to construct and tend the gardens. It would make Baghdad a lot less hot. People would cool off and they'd have money to take to their families at the end of a good day's work.

I don't know about building the space elevator, though... they said the big guy didn't like that the last time they tried it in Baghdad.

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Comments:

OK maybe the gardens were in Ninevah, or maybe they didn't exist at all. But they exist figuratively, and they would be great. There's no way to profit from them, but their benefits would be profound. Let Iraqis prove they are good at creating, and they will feel no need to compete with our ability to destroy.
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USChristianDemocrats.org editor : May 6, 2007 4:21 PM

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