Withdraw From Iraq In 3-6 Months…

[Linette]

.

James Kroeger's 8/29 blog entry:

.
Withdraw From Iraq In 3-6 Months…

The time has come for the peace movement to take over the Democratic Party. The opportunity is there. (Are you paying attention, Michael Moore?) Approval for President Bush has plummeted, not because of anything that Democrat hawks in Congress have had to say about the President, but because of what the “Peacenik Fringe” of the Democratic Party has had to say about him. Peace activists have—-by simply adhering to principle—-become the saviors of the Democratic Party.

Isn’t that ironic?

Cindy Sheehan and her fellow ‘extremists’ have resurrected the fortunes of the Democratic Party in spite of the Washington Establishment’s long insistence that its “fuzzy” approach to foreign policy is the correct one. Consider for a moment her ‘wildly extremist’ call for the President to bring the troops home NOW. The polls have shown that her simple plea has resonated with a growing number of Swing Voters, citizens who voted for George Bush in 2004.

It’s enough to make Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden ask themselves, “How is it possible that Average Americans could find such an extremist position so appealing?” The answer is (a) there are actually no compelling reasons for not bringing the troops home NOW, and (b) the American people are just now starting to wake up to that fact. Against all the arguments you’ve heard to the contrary, consider the following simple proposal on how the United States could successfully remove American troops from the Iraq debacle in 3-6 months…

All we need to do is ask a coalition of Arab (or perhaps Islamic) states to take over the security problems that currently exist in Iraq. Their duties would be to prevent the outbreak of civil war and give Iraq’s politicians the time to put together some sort of constitution they can work with. We pay the bill (within reason) for their occupation army as a sort of penance for creating the mess. We just might find that the EU would be willing to help us out with the expenses since they would no longer have to feel embarrassed to be associated with us.

Of course, removing ourselves physically from the region would not mean an end to our influence in the area. If America underwrites the expenses of the Arab Coalition Occupation Army, it will have a tremendous amount of influence on the decisions that are made by Arab leaders. We could always “sweeten the deal” if the Arab/Islamic occupiers were to enable Iraq to actually put together some kind of democracy. If they were to willfully sabotage the effort, then we could always cut off our funding or even get real mad at them, something they would probably want to avoid, if possible.

Would there still be a chance that Iraq could blossom into an idyllic model of democracy, like the one that Bush used to fantasize about? Maybe, but probably not. Iraq could end up splitting into three separate states. Or maybe Turkey, Iran, and Syria would end up agreeing to carve up Iraq amongst themselves, bringing an end to the phony state of Iraq that was created by Britain in 1921. Nothing we could conceivably end up with, however, could ever be anything more than an extremely minor threat to the United States—-as long as we stay out of the “internal affairs” of Muslim nations.

Perhaps an analogy would be helpful.

Imagine you and a friend are walking with George Bush on his ranch. After the three of you have stopped to take in the view and chat for a while, you suddenly realize that you are being bitten by ants. George has led you to a place where the ants have been living for quite a while. You shout out, “Ants!” but George quickly intervenes when he sees that you are about to jump away from the ant hill.

He insists that you have to hold your ground and try to kill all of the ants that are daring to try to bite you because you wouldn’t want them to think that they succeeded in forcing you to move away from their land through their fierce attacks. George cautions that even daring to discuss with your friend the option of leaving the ants’ land would encourage the ants to continue to try to drive you off their land with additional bites.

All we’re saying in the peace movement, George, is that we want to get off the anthill, now. Let the ants do what they want with their land. We don’t care if they have disputes with other ant colonies. Getting ourselves involved in the disputes that the ants have been having with invading colonists has done nothing to improve the security or the well-being of the American people. In fact, it has done the opposite.

The Swing Voters who have been supporting George Bush’s war the past couple of years can understand this kind of logic. The polls show that. The big question for the Democratic Party today is, can the strategists over at the DLC understand it?

He's right.

[Nite Owl]

1. He is right

The Dems have not shown the leadership needed. They are so afraid of being put down by the repukes that they seem forced to agree with them. There are a few but we need a cohesive message.