To Democrats. If you were president, what would you do about Iraq?

Answer 1

First things first. You can't make a mess and then ask us to clean up. Ok? If we were in power we wouldn't go there in the FIRST place.

That out of the way, if I were to be president NOW, that is AFTER you have messed the whole region and created chaos I would do the following:
1. Militarily: follow John Murtha's plan of gradual retreat and stop being occupiers as soon as the plan allows.
2. Economically: float tenders to world wide businesses for rebuilding and repairing the damage done (roads, hospitals, bridges, power stations. You have broken a lot of things.)
3. Financially: hunt down the missing $9 billion that seem to have disappeared mysteriously.
4. Socially: Apologize to the Iraqi people who have done nothing wrong but had to suffer the pain and suffering. But also point out that with Saddam gone they might eventually be better off. Also make sure that the people have access to American technology that could benefit them and improve their lives.
5. Politically: Make sure that the puppet Islamic government you have put in place grows up and becomes a secular, independent government.

Steps 2 to 5 I would do without any military presence. Yes they are in the middle of a civil war. Saddam had the insurgents in check with an iron fist. But this civil war would have erupted anyway. There is nothing about this war that we could have done about. Those people need to grow up and learn compromise, perhaps it will make them a better people. It is their war which may have happened even if the US didn't invade Iraq. The invasion only precipitated the civil war.

Answer 2

Anyone who doesn't think there isn't a time line in regards to Iraq are numb from the head up. Why in gods name would we advertise it? It's not like we have the New York times on our side. We can chirp and chatter all we want, they know what they are doing. The politicians are just posturing for your vote. We all know Hillary would prefer to leave our military over there and actually hope more of them get killed. She hates the military, but the feeling is mutual. She's only trying to look moderate. That worked for Bill, but she's been out there too long and we have her number. The only solution is the one we are working now. I could pretty much guarantee that nothing would change in the strategy. How could our new president pull the rug out from under the new government of Iraq and still get any shred of respect in the world. There certainly would be no trust. Think people think!

Answer 3

i answered a similar question before this is my answer::

1) Pass a resolution we will withdrawl is the first step.
Why first.....because it is not clear that there is a desire to ever leave. We closed the Bin Sultan Airbase.
We now are left with the need of a strategic foothold in the region....Might as well be Iraq....13 bases a super embassy bigger than the vatican and counting...

2) Determine what role the United states will have in the Iraqi civil war.

Very important question, why?
Becaue once we decide we are going to leave, we next have to decide what role to have in the war for power amongst the Iraqi themselves.
Remember the security issue with Al Queda is completely diffrent issue than the power grab between Iraqi factions.

If we decide that we should not interfere with thier civil war then we begin to pull out troop within a
either
a) a time frame based on Iraqi achievement meaning
having enough trained troops, police, infrastructure, shcools, government, elections

or
b) a strict time frame of our choosing, suggesting that they are on their own, and that whatever government WE establish will be replaced by the will of the people. We desinate a couple of years and pull out gradually. or whatever time line is most sensible.

If we decide to take a side in the Iraqi civil war we must then not only back and arm one side but offer intellgence and training.
We can pull out troops and fund monteralliy our choosen side and give them US weapons.....this has backfired inthe past.

3) To win correctly......


a) Pour more troops into the region, more troops to secure the borders,
create real securtiy

b) Elect a new congress to investigate

war profiteering....

and elect a new adminstration.

c) after a gradual withdrawl of troops Use the UN and nieghboring countries to form a coalition as in Kosevo

d) Create jobs in Iraq, giving
the people the opportunity to eat..

e) Create stability...

Answer 4

Personally, I am an awkward kind of democrat. I believe in total free speah, abolishing the "patriot act", and I strongly believe in the 2nd ammendment. And for Iraq, I believe that our soldiers should be pulled out of Iraq before any more of them get killed. This is a lost cause because in order to change the country, you would have to change their culture. Me being a mixed race person of Caucasian and Filipino origin, I believe that changing a persons culture is the worst thing to do.

Pull out of Iraq asap and let them do what they want as long as it doesn't effect my daily life. Besides, Bush had a lot to do with 9-11 other than boosting patriotism.

Answer 5

This one is easy. General Casey is writing a plan for a withdrawal timeline. He is in charge. All democrats have to do is agree with him. Meanwhile, republicans are bashing those who advocate a timeline for withdrawal. I and many others knew Iraq was a bad idea from the start, but that doesn't mean we will get any credit from conservatives for being right.

Answer 6

Send more troops; hard seal the borders so no one goes in or out w/o a visa (hardcore Iraqi govt background check), including electronic transfer of funds moving in & out of the country.

As the US takes control of an insurgent stronghold town, leave troops behind, bring in civil affairs & reconstruction projects, assign an Iraqi brigade with US advisors assigned, transition unit to unit in one town & slowly move our troops away to other trouble areas. Don't leave the population not knowing who to trust or if we will abandon them to insurgents as soon as things cool down.

Bring more Iraqi troops out of the country to train & fight as a team. Send some Iraqis to US military academies (we do that with other countries already). Better equip Iraqi troops so they can really stand up next to us.

Totally reorganize the reconstruction effort so as to push a nation building agenda alongside infrastructure. We want to win them over now, but eventually we will leave & at that point we want them to be westernized & free not falling back on an islamic hardliner based culture. They're on the fence & could go either way right now, the win to be had in Iraq is to make them a democratic example to their neighbors down the road.

Use more psychological warfare methods. Run the propaganda campaigns, use sniper teams wisely, better use of special operations forces. Move some of our heavy troops back from certain areas so civilians don't feel oppressed. Throw some money around, build good will, give them economic opportunities to make some money that don't have to do with supporting troops.

And finally, stand up on TV & say it doesn't matter how many troops we lose, how much money it costs, how long we have to stay, we will NEVER leave until Iraq can protect itself & maintain a free democratic govt - you goal is two years, but that depends on the Iraqis.

Answer 7

1) Remove Haliburton and KBR, give the jobs to Iraqi contractors, help the Iraqis build their own infrastructure.

2) Capture or kill Osama

3) Let the Iraqi people decide their own government. When it turns out to be pro-Iranian theocracy, live with it. Help the remaining Sunnis that wish to leave emigrate to the US.

4) Dismantle or destroy any permanent bases built for the US military on Iraqi soil.

5) Let the Iraqi's start policing their own country, and remove US troops when the Iraqi government request it.

6) Leave the Iraqi oil fields.

7) Agree to extradite Donald Rumsfeld, Condelezza Rice, George Bush, and Richard Cheney to stand trial in Iraqi courts for war crimes against the Iraqi people.

Answer 8

good question!! enable's take a seem back on the 2004 election. interior the 2004 campaign, Kerry criticized Bush for deceptive the U. S. on Iraq. inspite of the actuality that, Kerry antagonistic the warfare he did not grow to be president. maximum democrats voted for the warfare first of all. mutually with John Edwards, John Kerry, and Hillary Clinton. the purely democrat that antagonistic the warfare become Al Gore.

Answer 9

simple one night have everyone drop everything and leave all the guns ammo grenades all of it and leave a note behind giving them 48 hours to gather up all the weapons and put them in a pile in the center of each city leave and see what happens.HAVE a couple of nuke subs sit in the med close by and just see what happens.
TELL them we will be back soon and they better follow instructions or else.put up a few clocks counting down from 120 hours backwards and do not say a word to anyone world wide .except we left instructions to be followed i sure hope they do as they are asked nicely .
then launch at zero hour some confetiy bombs you know and say this was just a test of the emergency terrorist removal act .

Answer 10

I'm neither a Democrat nor a Republican, but I need to say that regardless of which party's candidate makes next president, he or she will be limited--with a Republican Congress to deal with.