I have spent the last several days reading blog reports, diaries, news stories, and journals about the mess going on in Iraq right now... and I have been generally pissed about it. I am excited that the dirt is finally coming out on Bush, and glad that Democratic Leadership (go Dean, Kerry, & Kennedy) are hitting back hard. But other thoughts have filled my mind as well:
- When we defeat the rebels, what happens next? -- Seriously folks, I know that I am only 18 and I am not exactly a military strategist or anything... but I am no idiot either. Winning the battle is not winning the war. Suppose we take back all the contested cities, capture/kill Sadr, and regain some form of control. What happens next? Bush would have us turn over control to the local government on June 30th... I say thats a bad idea. I know... I'm preaching to the choir here, you all think it's a bad idea too, but really, what are the other options? I think we have gotten in such a habit of keeping count of the action and blaming GW that we aren't looking forward at what we need to do to fix this mess before it really does become like Vietnam. It's nice to say 'bring in more international troops,' but where are you going to get them, and how are more troops going to make more of a difference? We obviously aren't winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people, so lets rethink our plan here.
I had other things, but in the process of writing up that one and watching the news, I sorta forgot them. I'll be back tomorrow (this is my second diary... I am trying to respect the rules) when I remember them.
We have some enormously intelligent people in this community that can think up some really incredible stuff. Lets see if we can't think of a strategy for bringing the peace to this country -- for our benefit and theirs.