Winning the war in Iraq

budhaboy got me thinking about the subject, so here goes.

Crossposted to debate

The question I often wonder listening to much of the debate and/or discussion over the Iraq war/occupation is what exactly do people really want? From my point of view, We invaded Iraq, got rid of an ugly dictator, this is a good thing, even if one doesnt buy the whole WMD reasoning (of which even I have my doubts). Now those people who were against the war to begin with, are using the prison scandal, the guerrilla warfare and civilian death tolls to argue against leaving Iraq. Personally, I see a clear responsibility on our part to buckle down and complete the job, pacify the resistance, and set up a functioning democratic and free country. I think people overall seem to have an unrealistic expectation as to how long this will take and what it will cost both in lives (US & Iraqi) and in money. I expect this overall process to take about ten years, allowing for gradual troop withdrawls after the first five or six.

I also think people need to realize that this is an ugly job in an ugly part of the world, and to expect life there to resemble an american city in six months is ridiculous.

That said, Bush is without a doubt fucking up, of course it isnt like anyone is helping him either, so we all bear some complicity.

So I propose the Plural plan for Iraq, and I will seperate each stage into three parts, Military, Economic and Politcal:

Stage One: [Timeline - the next 6 months]
Military: Double the US military forces on the ground, if necessary take troops from places like Germany to bolster our troop strength
Economic: Institute a comprehensive social welfare and home/business rebuilding program to feed, clothe and help them get their homes and business operating normally again
Political: Create a constitution & civil and criminal codes of law

Stage Two: [Timeline - 6 to 18 months out]
Military: Complete pacification of all resistance, identify areas of guerilla activity, isolate them and summarily execute one in ten males of military age in those areas.
Economic: Reopen the Iraqi oil pipelines and start selling their oil to help pay for the rebuilding of Iraq, provide preferential consideration to American companies bidding for rebuilding projects.
Political: Train a judiciary, establish civil and criminal courts and give them jurisdiction over Iraqi citizens

Stage Three: [Timeline - 18 to 30 months out]
Military: Train Iraqi police and slowly hand over small areas of territory to their governance [under US military supervision]
Economic: Institute a micro loan program to help Iraqis start businesses and participate/profit from the rebuilding of Iraq
Political: Train civil administrators, mayors, councilmen, and the like, turn over civil administration of towns then cities in a reverse order of size

Stage Four: [Timeline - 30 to 42 months out]
Military: Train and Iraqi Military and slowly hand over small areas or territory for them to secure [under US military supervision]
Economic: Create Iraqi subsidiaries of the American companies operating Iraqis utilities, and oil fields to be run by Iraqis
Political: Establish a limited democratic process by which Mayors and city councilmen can be elected

Stage Five: [Timeline - 42 to 66 months out]
Military: Establish major military bases in strategic areas, to set the groundwork for an american withdrawal
Economic: Create an Iraqi stock market, spin off the American subsidaries creating a critical mass of publicly traded companies within Iraq, limit initial IPO purchases to Iraqi nationals.
Political: Create a national congress, expand the existing democratic process to elect representatives to that body, give them control over regional administration

Stage Six: [Timeline - 66 to 90 months out]
Military: Begin a staged withdrawal of ground forces, leaving only a stabilizing force in the above mentioned bases to support a democratically elected government.
Economic: Re-open the Iraqi market to free international trade
Political: Create an executive branch, expand the existing democratic process to elect a national leader, give them control over national, international and military affairs

Stage Seven: [Timeline 10 years from now]
Having given the political and economic structures two and a half years completely free of American intervention to stabilize, we should be able to withdraw the remaining US forces completely, leaving behind a stable, democratic and free Iraq.

Go us.

Would this work / what would you change?

Is it better than the current administrations plan?

A culture of violence and bigotry

this will probably piss some of you off but it has been brewing for sometime

I am literally fed up and appalled with the coddling by the liberal west of Arab and Muslim governments and militants

To quote Bill Maher

"I am not prejudiced against them, prejudiced means "pre-judging", I am judging"

Which is what I am doing here, looking at their actions, and practices and judging them according to our standards.

Take the prison situation; for Americans to be outraged makes sense such behavior is outside the norm and the boundaries of what is acceptable in Western civilization. For Arabs in middle eastern countries to be outraged is hypocritical bordering on humorous. You cannot honestly be outraged at behavior which is the culturally and societally accepted norm in your society. They are not appalled and outraged that such behavior occurred, they are appalled and outraged that it was done by Americans

When Saddam did the same, there was no Arab outcry.

When King Hussein of Jordan shelled Palestinian refugee camps for a month, slaughtering thousands, there was no Arab outcry

When Arafat has lynched, jailed, tortured or executed his political opponents, there was no Arab outcry

When the Saudis have summarily executed political activists, and dissentors, there was no Arab outcry

But if an American or Israeli does anything remotely similar, all hell breaks loose.

This isn't outrage, it is hypocrisy and racism

They say Islam is a religion of peace, and let us for a moment, assume that is true. Then the questions I must ask are:

Why is nearly every Islamic regime categorically famous for its violent human rights violations?
Why on a per capita basis does Islam produce vastly more extremist militants and terrorists than any other nation, race, or religion?

The answer I hear, is the old "Bad Apples" clause, a few rotten ones spoiling the bunch, but that simply doesn't cut it when you look and realize the extent to which their governments and societies not only approve and condone but carry out large scale human rights abuses. Lets look closely at Arab/Muslim culture, not in the western world where they function (peacefully and successfully) as a minority, but in those places where they are a majority and determine their own society:

Homosexuals are commonly killed or beaten for being homosexual
Women are second class citizens
Daughters are murdered as a result of being raped or having sex in the name of "protecting the family honor"
Wives are beaten at their husbands whim
Dismemberment and beheadings are commonly practiced forms of punishment
Democracy is unheard of
Corruption is commonplace
Censorship of both news and ideas is the rule
Terrorists who target civilians, women and children are lauded as heroes
Religious leaders give public and televised sermons espousing racism and urging the killing of women and children
State text books slander other races/religions with accusations of ritual murder and blood sacrifice
Mainstream politicians call for the destruction of sovereign countries and the extermination of their entire population
Political dissent is met with summary executions or long prison sentences
Militants use children as bombs or cover from which to launch attacks
Public figures routinely threaten the US (and other nations) with Terrorist attacks

I wonder how can any liberal westerner, who supports Human rights, Gay rights and Equality for Women. Who Fights against racism and intolerance, or advocate the Democratic Process, look themselves in the mirror and still support these regimes and this society?

When sermons like this are produced and aired on government television channels, how can we support those causes which so blatantly encourage racism, murder and gross violations of human rights?

I am honestly confused and befuddled, please explain this to me?