Red Fish Blue Fish

Iraq. (pronounced -eerahk-) The word of the day. Violence and bloodshed, a test for new democracy that now closes down news channels and forces women to prescribe to a level of Shari'ah that Iraqis have not had to work around for many years, possibly not since the times of the Khaliph. We see the same thing in Afghanistan. Americans went in and crushed the government, and just let them have at it. Men raised without freedom, trying to write something that is supposed to be free.

Example 1)

Recently a Christian Afghan was imprisoned in Afghanistan for being an Apostate. Owning a bible made him a criminal. Where is freedom in that equation? Regardless of your religious affiliation, whether you be Christian, Muslim, Jew, Atheist, Deist...how can you guarantee any freedoms without granting basic freedoms, such as freedom of speech, religion, press, and the ability to peacefully assemble?

Example 2)

In Iraq, women are afraid to drive cars, or be seen without a hijab (even Christian women!). Here, a place that even under Saddam's cruel tenure women were allowed to walk around outside in jeans and a t-shirt without reprehension. How can you proclaim freedom without granting basic equality between the sexes and races and religious differences?

Give me one term. One term as president and I would fix it all. Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, N. Korea, the UN. Give me two presidential terms, and I would fix more, immigration, taxes, welfare. Give me two terms, and I would make Washington proud. Not the place, not the capital, but our model president.

How would I fix Iraq you ask?

1.) Reinstate the occupation of Iraq. If all of these people want to call us an occupying force, then we need to be. Send more troops, and take Maliki's power away from him. He is abusing it anyways. This will give us the power to deal with the militias, and the insurgents without having someone from the government barring our path when dealing with people "on his side".

2.) Re-write the Iraqi constitution. A constitution that allows the state to have power over the press is not something that guarantees freedom. All it does is set up a framework for legal means to quiet the people. We wrote the Japanese constitution, and look where they are now. We did not allow the emperor, or generals, or people who have been in exile and out of touch with the people for 15 years the ability to write their constitution. Re-write the constitution to include the basic freedoms of the people in that country. From women's rights to religion, there's no point in starting a democracy that is 50 years behind our own.

3.) Follow that constitution. Enforce all parts of that constitution, disarm Muqtada, and let everyone know in a clear voice that an enemy who attacks Iraqi civilians or coalition forces is an enemy that will be dealt with no matter the circumstances. If you will disgrace a Masjid by using it as a fortress, then we will attack it. I think God would understand. If you cared enough about the masjid, then you wouldn't be using it to hide weapons and people. In WWII the first thing we did upon reaching a town would be to blast the hell (quite literally) out of church belltowers, which were perfect perches for snipers. I don't claim to be an Islamic scholar, but I know you aren't supposed to conduct business inside of a masjid, so I'm pretty sure that trying to kill people in them is a one way ticket to hell.

4.) Once steps one through three are complete, begin redoctrinating the Iraqi forces. Give them something to unify them with, reach out to former military members. Not "Chemical Ali" but the run of the mill grunts. Then instead of sending them into their home towns where they are ingrained tribally and religiously to one side or another, line them up on the borders with Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Syria. They may hate each other, but they hate those coming in even worse. Let them fight an outside enemy together, which will unify them in their national identity and harden them in battle. Not to mention the side effect of stemming the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq. When they have served enough time there, send them back and rotate in new troops on the borders. Now when they get back they will be able to fight, and be able to remember who they are.

5.) Now that you have a constitution in place, an army that is beginning to become a cohesive unit, and have let the insurgents know that there is no place for them in Iraq, now is the time to begin reconstruction. What we do now is build them million dollar targets, just to rebuild them in three months. Make sure they have basics, such as medical care, food, and water of course, but you can wait until step 5 to begin working on the Oil industry, and schools and other infrastructure. No point in having schools when you are out of school half the time for fear of death. Give these contracts to Iraqi companies. They can do it much cheaper and much more efficiently than we can. They don't have to set up shop for 5,000 workers 9,000 miles away from home.

6.) Now that you have secured the borders, have troops that have been tempered in battle, have a constitution that guarantees individual rights, an infrastructure, basic security, and have begun tackling their unemployment, you can begin transferring power. We should have never tried to transfer power while the country was in the middle of hell, all that did was tie our remaining hand behind our back. Make sure that the people are educated about their choices, and that they realize that their vote is secret, so even if your Husband, Father, or Imam tells you to vote for Bob, you can vote for Joe and no one will ever know.

That would work. Don't you think?