Given that the Iraq war is "lost," what should America do?

[MrModerate]

OK -- GW Bush's Iraq blunders are manifest. He's wrecked Iraq and turned it into a bloodsoaked playground for psychopaths, where they can go to hone their skills, practice murder-by-power-drill, and network about new ways to immolate innocents around the world.

It's Bush's fault, no question, and history will paint him as author of the greatest strategic error in America's existence.

Hooray. Just as so many of us predicted, a clusterfuck of biblical proportions.

Now what?

Given that *none* of the multifarious aims put forth for this benighted invasion will every be realized -- eliminating WMDs, furthering nonproliferation, planting democracy, establishing forward basing of US armed forces, seizing oceans of oil, etc., etc. -- what's our objective now?

Well, avoiding complete disaster, I'd say.

I'm convinced that an immediate pullout would cause more harm than good. Yes, we could reduce the rate at which America is bleeding money and treasure, redirecting those resources to more useful ends, and beginning the long process of healing our rift with the rest of the civilized world. Yes, we'd remove American soldiers as the targets and rallying points for insurgents.

However, Iraq would immediately descend into civil war on a level that we've not seen yet, with hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis and perhaps millions of refugees. The destabilization of the region could shake governments off their perches in half the countries of the world, and while many of these governments probably deserve to go, playing "Samson in the Temple" sounds like a pretty risky strategy.

Staying in the futile hope that a representative democracy can survive in the Iraqi climate is pure folly; pulling out is a recipe for worldwide disaster. Just bumbling along, trying some half-baked new tactic every other day, is downright Bushian.

So what do we do now?

Because, on a purely political level, if Dems can articulate a strong, convincing message of a repair plan for Bush's crackup, we'll sweep the country in November and in 2008 as well. And even though we didn't dig the hole, we've got to come up with something a bit more comprehensive in the way of a solution than "stop digging" -- although that's an obvious first step.

Any suggestions?

[MadMaddie]

1. Divide Iraq int o 3 countries....each country will recieve

1/3 of oil revenues.....

Remember this country as we know as Iraq was not a country before the British went in in the early 1900's and made it so....so return the countries back to their original state and let them build their own economies.....

The US must impeach the President and anyone involved with him to show the world that we take care of our problems....this will also show good will to the world and we can begin to build relationships and get other countries to help rebuild Iraq properly....

[MrModerate]

2. I'm all for "Biden Federalism," as some are starting to call it . . .

But what do we do with all the newly trained terrorists with time on their hands and an itch to make a difference in the world?

[MadMaddie]

3. Good Question....

Because these new terrorist....lost family members to the attrocities and they will not be satisfied until they kill Americans....

Unfortunately we will have to rebuild our spy network to get in with these cells and discover what they are doing...and if necessary kill them..