Surge of Death

W gave his big speech on Wednesday and I couldn't get myself to watch. I chose to read it instead and avoid yelling at the TV and using words my mother would have washed out my mouth with soup for using. What I read was just more of the same. The man still sees the war as being about stopping evil outside forces from preventing the Iraqis from achieving his great victory in the Middle East. He refuses to admit that he created a power vacuum with the invasion of Iraq and a civil war among the sects and within the sects that makeup Iraq have filled the void. Now he is upping the targets wearing our uniform by more than 21,000. Several hundred will be from a town next door to where I live. This "surge" will only bring more death and suffering.

The exacerbation of the mistake that is W's FUBAR Iraq War policy has even struck several Republicans in Congress as a bad idea. In particular, those who fear for their jobs when they face voters in 2008 (see Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota and Sen. Sununu of New Hampshire) and most interestingly one with presidential aspirations, Sen. Brownback of Kansas. Brownback is very conservative and a favorite of the very, very conservative religious rightwing of the Republican Party. He has a record that makes any public disagreement with W a big deal. That he thinks it is appropriate for someone who wants the Republican nomination for president in 2008 to oppose the president is very shocking.

Beyond the electoral implications, the loss of support among Republicans unfortunately doesn't mean Congress will muster the ability to stop W's latest bad idea for Iraq. The soldiers and Marines are going. House-to house fighting in Baghdad will become more frequent and the deaths will be terrible, especially for the Iraqis. Peace will be further away.

What would I do? I'd call for a ceasefire with all insurgents. I'd push for very frequent and heavily covered negotiations with all factions in Iraq. I'd have the US do all it could to guarantee security for those in those negotiations. I'd pick a few big projects that will result in noticeable change in the lives of Iraqis and emphasize security for the Iraqi workers for those projects and maintaining their success and deny any contracts to US companies for these projects. I'd admit that we can't do much more right now. I'd apologize to the American public for the failure and then tell them it is no longer fair that only those in uniform have sacrificed and it is the time for the rest of us to help. Taxes would go up to pay for this mistake. I'd ask for civilian experts at rebuilding and creating basic infrastructure and organizations needed to build a functioning society to volunteer for duty. I'd talk to the Iranians and Syrians and tell them we have no intention of invading you, but we will oppose any effort to damage Israel, including support for terrorists. I'd apologize to the Afghans for ignoring them and letting the Taliban regain a hold in that country and transfer some military from Iraq to Afghanistan, but focus more on an international effort to create a country there that actually works. I'd tell the Israelis and the Palestinians that neither one of them can win militarily and they have no choice but to figure out how to live together in close proximity without idiotic walls and the constant threat of terrorists bombs and military strikes.

All of the above are actions that W will never make. I'll be looking for a Democratic presidential candidate in 2008 who might do some of them. I pray and dream that most of them may actually occur before tens of thousands more are killed and wounded in this FUBAR war.