Our problem, at core, is very similar to…another quamire. We don’t know these people!
We don’t speak the language, have no concept of the subtleties of thier interactions. We have to rely on “collaborators”. What other option have we?
We will recreate the Iraqi Army, there is noone else. No foreign troops are going to come flooding in, at least none from any countries who both a)speak the language and b) we trust.
Clearly, it is much simpler to simply re-hire Iraqi soldiers. We get them off the street and under a semblence of control. They don’t need so much training, and very likely are already armed.
The catch? The officers corps. Drawn from the same ethnic and relational pool as Saddam himself. OK, we lop off the top ranks in “de-Baathification”, all the majors move up to colonel, etc. But the essential core of Iraqi officers remains the same: Saddamism without Saddam. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
You can fully expect this army to act directly and forcefully against our enemies. After all, their enemies are much the same as ours: they are secularists, enemies of religious radicals. They will be more than happy to root out foreign terrorists and Al Queda.
Trouble is, we’ll have to take their word for it. They pull a head out of a bag, say “Achmed. Al Queda terrorist.” and we write them a check. Very quickly we can announce universal support amongst the Iraqi people for their armed services. Without fear of contradiction.
Voila! Iraq is “stabilized”. We can then throw together whatever rag tag bunch is handly, and declare them the Provisional Government, and hand said government over to the nurturing and protective care of the Army. We can depend that they will pay close attention to the wisdom and guidance of the Army, as unarmed men tend to do when offered the opinions of men with automatic weapons.
Stability and democracy is achieved! Of course, we will leave them to sort out the details of a Constitution and such, but that will be way past next November, long after the troops return for the Support Our President and Re-elect Our Troops Rally.
The Iraqi people? Will probably breathe a sigh of relief. They have no clue as to “democracy”. Can’t miss what you never had. And they will be tickled pink to have all the bloodshed stop, as would any relatively sane group of people. The Kurds and Shia will most likely grumble a bit, and take the half-a-loaf, thus the “federal” Iraq is preserved as one nation, territorial integrity intact.
And, of course, in matters of foreign policy, the Iraqi regime will pay close attention to the guidance offered by their benefactors and liberators.
What, you say? Would the Bushiviks throw over thier policy of liberation and freedom for Iraq to salvage the coming election?
Bet me.
Just kidding by the way.