I intend this thread to be purely non-partisan. I’ve heard a lot of partisan sniping and name calling from both sides, and virtually no suggestions about how we can handle things better in Iraq . Here are some observations of the way we are doing things, and my suggestions on doing things better.
I recall President Bush saying that elections in Iraq will be held in January, but I haven’t heard anything about efforts to get voting machines into the country, or take a census to divide Iraq into voting districts. Or start a voting registration system.
If I’m mistaken, I welcome any cites to the contrary. But it seems to me our actions just aren’t matching our rhetoric about a “Free Iraq.” And even if our actions are matching our rhetoric, we aren’t doing enough to ensure the people of Iraq that we’re giving the government to the people and that we respect their autonomy. If we want them to stop hating us, we also need to stop doing things that make us look bad.
How hard could it be to say, distribute millions of pamplets explaining our vision for empowering Iraq to self determination? Why not go further, and say that if a majority of Iraqis democratically vote for us to withdrawl all our troops, we’d respect that decision even if we thought it to be a bad idea? That would go a long way towards easing fears that we are occupiers instead of liberators.
With regards to Iraq’s oil: What is Halliburton doing over there anyway? I thought it was Iraq’s oil. Why are we taking their oil and giving it to the same corporation that our Vice President used to be CEO of (and still holds a substantial number of shares in)? Don’t we realize how terrible this makes us look? Why not let the Democratically elected Government of Iraq determine what to do with their own oil? (Note to Bush lovers: I don’t care if the Administration is being totally innocent in all this and merely chose the best contractor for the job. Even assuming that this is the case, it still badly hurts our image)
The recent scandal involving Iraqi prisoners is another thing that gives us bad PR. If we allowed neutral, international observers from the UN and the Red Cross to regularly inspect our prisons that would go a long way towards improving our image. Our own internal army investigations won’t be enough to ease fears that this sort of things will happen again.
Lastly, why did our puppet Governing Counsel decide to draw up a new flag for Iraq? It’s wildly inappropriate to start making a new flag without any input from the people. It also makes it look like we’re playing favorites by including a yellow stripe to represent the Kurds, but with no representation of the Shiites or Sunnis.
Ya. I intend to forge one ring to rule them all, but that ain’t gonna happen either.
Nobody is ‘giving’ oil to Halliburton, you know. Nor is Halliburton ‘taking’ it. They are extracting oil, which is sold under UNSCR 1483. The money from those sales goes to the Development Fund for Iraq.
I think organizing elections is typically something that the UN would be asked to do. They have the experts and processes for this. Here is an example
Also I think the American administration policy toward elections (not to mention toward the UN) may have shifted over time. Here is a critique
Concerning the subject of our “PR” toward iraqis (as contrasted to our actions), I think it’s fair to say that the efforts so far have been “marked by missteps” (I’m tempted to say incompetence but that might not be fair in some ways). The occupation has spend mucho dollars on efforts like Al Iraqiya and more recently Al Hurra (here is a critique).
The CPA-drafted constitution for the interim gov’t states this.
UNMOVIC has been there preparing for elections for a year.
Iraq has already entered regional elections
Iraq is nominally prepared for elections already, having been a theoretical republic
Well, that would be assuming we would actually follow up on such a promise, which we wouldn’t.
And you said you wanted to avoid partisan sniping.
Halliburton is there for a rather simple reason - Iraq’s oil industry needs to be rebuilt. They are outdated, and not set up to be run correctly. Halliburton (and the other companies) are there to retrofit and reorganize them. In theory, Halliburton got the contract because they are one of the largest companies in the world capable of doing this. More than a little fishy with Cheney, though. However, it would have been harder for them to find an oil company without ties to Bush or Cheney than one with ties.
You do point out some interesting ideas… but going back to the communication thingy. Even if you put a good PR effort to communicate with the Natives… and then you use violence to put down Clerics and their militia… torture prisoners and make new flags… then no Communication effort will work… since it will all appear like mere propaganda.
Overall I agree things should be running along quicker and more effectively… but that is what happens when you invade countries that don’t welcome you.
