What do YOU think the solution is for Iraq?

Question

A. 100% withdrawl like democrats say ?
B. Stay the course and listen to Bush?
C. New plan, new approach, new tactic to ensure victory?
D. Whatever sounds popular at the present moment
(and if you have a plan for Iraq that makes sense, I'd love to hear it no matter if you're part of the republican party, democratic party, or the common sense party!)

Answer 1

Gradual pullout, making Iraq stand on their own like the bipartisan Iraq Commission stated. Thusly getting America out fro teh middle of a civil war that doesnt concern them.

Answer 2

This answer is probably going to hurt a lot of peoples' feelings, and I do not mean it like that. The people actually fighting the war have been doing all they have been asked to do and more. I am NOT criticizing them.

Our problem is that NO ONE in power has any idea what to do in Iraq, and all of the prominent military leaders who gave President Bush good but unpopular advise in 2003 were all forced into early retirement or worse.

There are a million things you can do half-way and get away with it, but this war is NOT one of them. The advice President Bush was originally given was that Iraq would have to be occupied and PACIFIED with in excess of 300,000 American and/or Allied soldiers for a period of at least five years. This is because all of the security, government and service infrastructure would have to be built from the ground up. President Bush and his advisors felt that this was far more of a commitment than Americans were willing to support, so like WMD and Al Quaeda presence, he fibbed and said we could get by with about one third that number of soldiers.

The result has been an uncontrolled amount of violence in the most important areas of the country (Bagdad, Anbar, the various pipelines and facilities, etc). In addition to the fact that nothing can be built or repaired before it is blown up again, the insurgents have spies all across the country writing down the names of anyone who seems like they will do anything to help the Americans. This is who all of the hundreds of people who are found tortured, mutilated and beheaded, were before they were abducted. People in Iraq cannot be seen to help us or they and their families will be killed. They cannot hope for a better life, because any improvements made will be destroyed before they can enjoy them. So long as the country remains out of control there can be no going forward into the next step of building a stable democracy.

We have two choices. We can start all over again with the right number of soldiers (and admit that the last four years was a complete waste of time, effort and sacrifice) and start the clock all over again. I don't know that we have the patience or the stomach for that. Or, we can bail out completely and hopefully there will be some pieces left to pick up in five years when the Iraqis completely massacre each other. I have a feeling that, like with Vietnam after 1975 and Afghanistan after 1989 and Somalia after 1994, we will simply try to tell ourselves that it is not our problem and forget about the terrible things that will happen to the unfortunate people we will be abandoning.

The course we are on now is, sadly, futile because there has been a complete lack of leadership at the very top ('stay the course!' and 'give W a headache!' are not leadership). Even sadder, we are rewarding those very same people who got us into this mess without considering anything in the first place.

Answer 3

C. And I'll go one better, I'll tell you what it should be.
We are beyond the point where a military answer will solve the problem. A political one is necessary now. The Sunnis feel disenfranchised and cut out from the government. The Shia have no reason to allow them in while we're doing all the heavy lifting. As a matter of fact, it's in their interest to keep us there as long as possible.
The only thing that can save Iraq are the Iraqis. And that won't happen as long as we are there, trying to make friends at the end of gun barrel.

Answer 4

Let Shi’ites live under Shi’ite law, let Sunnis live under Sunni law, let heretics and infidels live under heretic and infidel law; multiply legal institutions according to consumer demand, and resolve disputes among different institutions by arbitration. And thereby free each Iraqi from the fear that some one institution not his or her own will be the one to be imposed on everybody by state fiat.

If 50 people in a room are fighting to get hold of the one gun, in the fear that someone else will get it first and use it against everybody else, the solution is not to take sides with one of the contending parties, but to throw the gun out the window. In this case, the state is the gun.

The 17th-century English philosopher Thomas Hobbes said that life without a centralized state would be a war of all against all. He was wrong. In Iraq, at least, it’s the state’s presence, not its absence, which generates a war of all against all.

Answer 5

i think best thing is to get out of there and let them deal with it.
First of all why did we even go there? what was our business there? We cant teach the whole world how to live or our way of living is the best
We have killed as many ppl as sadam did in his era so what is the difference btw us and him
We should get out of there, its not our country, we are not helping them in any way plus our youngsters are dying there for no reason. What victory are we talking about? War is btw countries who are equal in power, there is no victory when we are fighting a country who dont have anything to fight with?
HOw come we always fight with countries that are poor, already destroyed and in no way comparable to us, we should pick someone who is like us not inferior. We bully them and then we call it a war and then we destroy them and call it a victory.
What a way!!!

Answer 6

Combination B and C. We need to fight like we mean it. We also need to remove the incentives to be terrorists, such as shooting on sight any militant out of uniform and bombing Iran the second we find another Iranian munition or fighter in Iraq. The war would be won next week.

Answer 7

although democrats aren't saying 100% withdrawal, I am going with A. Mission accomplished. The civil war is the Iraqis problem. You can't change reality, which is why we should have WAITED for the Iraqis to ASK US for help, instead of imposing it on them. If they can't figure it out, they were never on board to begin with, and nothing we do will change that. Dmeocracies have always risen out of chaos and extreme sacrifice on the part of those fighting for it. It is thier turn. if they fail, that is their problem.

Answer 8

We need a build up for a little while.

Then we need to put most of our efforts into training the Iraqi forces.

As their numbers increase then ours should decrease.

I would say this shouldn't take more than a year to reduce our forced by 50% and then we could escalate the speed of withdraw for the second half.

Answer 9

P E A C E
the one war plan repukes never tried

Answer 10

I think the solution is to actually listen to the generals who are leading the troops on the ground.

Those generals are telling us that our current path isn't working.

The solution is to get someone with no hidden personal agenda (like avenging his father's near assassination) to be in charge.