Iraq Nam: Part 3

Part 3: Q: Can the United States prevail in the Iraq conflict? An insane father sent his insane son on an insane mission to an insane place to dethrone an insane king and as soon as the son got there the insane subjects invited over all their insane friends and they brought all their insane toys with them. What followed? Insanity. Sound like a familiar scenario?

Q: Can the United States prevail in the Iraq conflict?

A: Yes.

But, not by ignoring history,(Part 1: Has a Conventional Army Ever Defeated a Guerilla Structured Insurgency?), and focusing entirely on confronting the insurgents militarily. The insurgent’s playing field is physical violence, but their game is psychological influence. If an opponent cannot successfully defeat the insurgent, (and/or terrorist), at that game, all to often the only other alternative is inflicting some level of (in the majority of instances, self-defeating) genocide, the final phase of the downhill spiral into the abyss.

What should America have done?

Before the first boot hit the ground our leadership should have had the complete package down on paper. Military. Political. Economic. Socio-Cultural.

1. Military:
a. Subdue opposing forces.
b. Enact Marshall Law.
c. Re-create Domestic Military Command Structure.
1. Imprison war crimes/crimes against humanity transgressors pending prosecution.
d. Domestic Forces Police Roads/Major Cites Near Capitol.
e. Coalition Secures Capitol, Borders, Ports and Airports.
f. Reign in the Government
1. Imprison war crimes/crimes against humanity transgressors pending prosecution.
g. Create Domestic Police Force.
h. Coalition Forces Remain on Standby.
i. Coalition Forces Exit Upon Stabilization of the
Government.

2. Socio-Cultural:
a. Insure that food, water, education and medical are interrupted as little as possible and restored a.s.a.p.
b. Insure Cultural Norms are Not Severely Interrupted.
c. Insure Cultural Norms are Understood and Respected.
d. Regularly dispense (even air-drop) leaflets to keep the public informed of progress, appeased and mobilized to participate. Backup with electronic media if available.
e. Set up sports facilities for young adults and children. Soccer, basketball, baseball, tennis, etc.

3. Political:
a. (Reign in the Government)
1. Imprison war crimes/crimes against humanity transgressors pending prosecution.
b. Structure Interim Government.
c. Schedule Elections and provide apparatus.
d. Monitor Elections.

4. Economic:
a. Insure that food, water, education and medical are interrupted as little as possible during hostilities and restored a.s.a.p.
b. Insure that infrastructure and utilities are interrupted as little as possible during hostilities and restored a.s.a.p.
c. Insure that land, water and air transportation are interrupted as little as possible during hostilities and restored a.s.a.p.
d. Evaluate and implement mutually beneficial commerce/trade opportunities.

(Ultimately, all decisions would be primarily military decisions should any hostilities commence. Priorities would be to: 1) Limit civilian casualties, and 2) Limit Coalition casualties. Hostiles would be advised to surrender or risk being eliminated. Visibly overwhelming force is designed to primarily deter conventional opposition and swiftly quash it should the need arise. Swift progression through the checklist and resumption of normalcy is designed to deter insurgency.)

An immeasurable bonus might be regaining a significant portion of the domestic fervor and international comradery of 9/11 now swiftly fading into memory. Additionally, consider America’s youth responding more favorably to petitions to enlist into an all volunteer army because it is clear to them that our leadership has its act together with a clear agenda and a focused strategy. This shoot-in-the-dark circus is killing our military in more ways than one. A military that is now struggling to find and keep the needed personnel. After all, we are asking these young people to possibly make the ultimate sacrifice. Should that petition not be a dignified and honorable one? (Part 2: Has America Learned Its Lessons from the Viet Nam Conflict?)

Having missed this opportunity what can we do now?

Specifically, in the Iraq scenario, one must beat the insurgents at their game by psychologically influencing Muslim Iraq by offering something to Muslim Iraq that appeals to Muslim Iraq.

After hundreds of years of conditioning, our culture works just fine for us. (For the most part anyway. The whole world knows that we have our problems too.) But that does not mean that in 2006 our culture (which includes American-flavored techno-democracy) will work in other parts of the earth. In fact, it absolutely will not work in most because of their own hundreds of years of conditioning in another, (not necessarily opposite), direction. Not to mention� no social and/or mechanical infrastructure in place being further exacerbated by unresolved raw class divisions and generations old grudges. (Is it becoming more and more clear that America itself is a work in progress?) America has to realize that democracy is for certain our most valuable export, nothing can even remotely approach its return on investment, but freedom, and hence democracy, means slightly, and at times drastically, different things to different peoples.

The first thing that America has to realize in resolving the debacle in Iraq is that Iraq is a part of Islam. And although Islam (as is Christendom) fractionalized along many fronts (especially Shiite vs. Sunni) all Islam is in agreement on one thing: They prefer any form of Islam to any form of Christenization which in their eyes is reminiscent of the those god-awful and criminal Crusades. But they have no problems with Westernization as long as said Westernization is not overly Christenized. And to them Christianity is not only defined by apostatized theology, but also the gross immorality, brutal colonialism and sugar-coated racism that has characterized Christianity for over 1,800 years. (Once again, Islam has its own age-old skeletons in the closet and current paradoxes as well, but rememberâÂ?¦ that’s their faÃ?§ade.) So you must offer them a form of Westernization that isn’t for them so distastefully ‘Christian’.

What should have been oh so obvious to leadership in the outset is that, ideo-politically, Iraq will never be, or ever be interested in being, a ‘free country” in the sense that America is a ‘free country’, (America’s all too obvious to the world flaws and double-talk not-withstanding), because the Islamic model does not allow for freedom of speech and expression in the most open sense of the word. (In light of many of the problems the West is contending with, skyrocketing divorce rates, under-aged and extra-marital sexuality, crime, pedophilia, morals sinking faster than a ten-ton anchor in the ocean and etc., obviously many in Islam feel that perhaps moving more towards the Islamic model might not be a bad idea in many respects for many of the lands of Christendom, but, paradoxically, one of the main criticisms of Islam is that whatever of these and other problems Islam cannot cover up, Islam simply kills off. Literally.)

Free to a Muslim means first and foremost being free to communally practice his (very confusing and very contradictory) faith. Period. All other freedoms, speech, press, votingâÂ?¦ are ‘dispensable’, (if not voluntarily, then definitely at the end of a gun barrel or the tip of a scimitar.) Give the Moslem that freedom and he will be much more patient in waiting any others. Or very agreeably live without them. Convincing Moslems to moderate religious fervor for political rewards is an uphill battle with no ‘moutaintop’ in sight. Force-feeding them women’s rights, religious tolerance and an open society is just setting the stage for a future cataclysmic backlash of ‘both equal and opposite’ proportions. If ever there were a legitimate argument for ‘separate but equal’, Islam (and Iraq) is it. Mohammed’s body wasn’t even cold before they were slaughtering each other and when has the slaughter stopped? (I’ll submit my not so flattering views on religion in general in another treatise.) And whatâÂ?¦? Is the voice of the ‘infidel’ now going to be the voice of reason in Islam? Get real. Not only do we have to learn how to talk their language, we have to learn how to let them hang on to some of their garbage as tenaciously as we hang onto our own. Let them work out things over time as we ourselves are contending with deeply-rooted social ills from centuries past.

Want to get our neck out of the noose? Want to stop the bleeding and get our sons and daughters home as soon as possible mission accomplished? Want to strike a blow in the heart of al-Qaeda in Iraq? Beat al-Qaeda in Iraq at their own brain-game. Offer Iraq a better Islam.

Put all that testosterone-induced hubris to good use and ram through a bold and visionary program that is both appealing to Muslim Iraq in the now and a workable plan for creating a more palatable Muslim Iraq in the future. Palatable to both Iraqis and the world. Something like this:

1. By majority consensus, either execute or exile Saddam Hussein to life in prison in the U.S. ‘immediately’. (Preferably life in prison in the United States to prevent his being elevated to martyrdom. But all dictators know that, cosmically balancing out their life of vice and excess, their last diatribe will probably be at the end of a noose. Either way, he should no longer be allowed to breath Iraqi air.)

2. Temporarily separate and re-locate the feuding sects into Kurd, Sunni, Shiite zones. (A demographic map of the country reveals that Iraq is already over 90% sectionalized into ethnic preferences with large-scale cohabitation only occurring in certain large cities, such as Baghdad, where (pseudo)-civility was maintained under constant threat of annihilation. Explain to the Iraqi people that, in order to maintain power, Saddam Hussein instituted and maintained this fractionalized environment of mutual distrust and hatred and trained the population to be ready to brutalize each other and once the artificial restraints were removed they acted upon conditioned violent impulses. Explain to them that this temporary arrangement will most importantly allow each group freedom to practice its faith without fear. It will also allow time for cooler heads to prevail while the world helps them to peacefully rebuild a beautiful, historically valuable and indispensable nation.)

3. Focus on adequate educational and sports facilities for school age children through young adults. (This eases the hearts of Iraqi parents by reaffirming a commitment to the minds, bodies and happiness of Iraq’s future generations. Soccer, basketball, baseball, tennis, etc.)

4. Simultaneously initiate re-unification tribunal under auspices of the U.N. (This will not only demonstrate to the Iraqi people that our commitment to a unified Iraq is sincere, but initiate a needed warming of relations with the U.N. Expect that each of the groups will probably petition for autonomy at some point, but, the fear of losing out on economic progress coupled with demonstrable social improvements should suffice to assuage any significant dissent.)

5. Issue National I.D. cards. (This is an essential element of creating a spirit national unity and reminding each individual Iraqi of their essential part in the process. It might perhaps read: My name is _______. I am a free citizen of a Unified Iraq. I understand that this card is designed to help me move freely throughout my entire country, but I realize certain restrictions may be put in place temporarily while the damage created by the corrupt Hussein government is repaired. I love my country and I love my fellow Iraqi citizens. I want to do all I can to return my country to its former glory. I will demonstrate this love by cooperating with my democratically elected government and doing all I can to assist my fellow citizens in a spirit of patriotism and mutual respect.)

6. Set up temporary all Kurd police force to police Kurdish zone. (This should eliminate any possibility of sectarian friction and hostile infiltration. It should also improve on-the-ground counter-insurgency/counter-terrorism intelligence.)

7. Set up temporary Kurd Engineering Corp. to address Kurdish zone housing and infrastructure concerns. (This will create a population of trained journeymen and at the same time assure each group that their living concerns are being addressed directly and equitably pending re-unification.)

8. Set up temporary all Sunni police to police Sunni zone. (This should eliminate any possibility of sectarian friction and hostile infiltration. It should also improve on-the-ground counter-insurgency intelligence.)

9. Set up temporary Sunni Engineering Corp. to address Sunni zone housing and infrastructure concerns. (This will create a population of trained journeymen and at the same time assure each group that their living concerns are being addressed directly and equitably pending re-unification.)

10. Set up temporary all Shiite police to police Shiite zone. (This should eliminate any possibility of sectarian friction and hostile infiltration. It should also improve on-the-ground counter-insurgency intelligence.)

11. Set up temporary Shiite Engineering Corp. to address Shiite zone housing and infrastructure concerns. (This will create a population of trained journeymen and at the same time assure each group that their living concerns are being addressed directly and equitably pending re-unification.)

12. Clear the capital except for elected governmental officials and set up Baghdad, (Baghdad, District of Mesopotamia), as a neutral zone. (This will relieve the security concerns in the capital and allow United Nations and Iraqi government officials to more efficiently concentrate on the affairs of government and expedite the transition to a post-Hussein democracy.)

13. Coalition forces will continue to train and equip zone police forces and Unified Iraqi Army composed of equal representation of Kurd, Sunni and Shiite. (Like any other, Iraq must be able to protect itself to remain a free people. The armed forces must represent the population demographics in order to remain a united people. A professional and dedicated police force is an essential element of any orderly society.)

14. Assign Unified Iraqi Army to police Baghdad. (This is designed to dispel the notion of an occupied Iraq.)

15. Set up a national consortium to equitably manage oil production and revenues. (This is once again designed to assure the Iraqi people that Iraq’s natural resources belong to the Iraqi people and that no segment of Iraqi society will be disenfranchised.)

16. Reduced sectarian friction should free-up more Coalition forces, zone police and Unified Iraqi Army units to secure borders, guard oil production and infrastructure. (While rebuilding, Iraq must be assisted in protecting itself from outside influences who are opposed to a united and prosperous democratic Iraq.)

17. Reduced sectarian friction should severely hamper insurgency and head off civil war. (Terrorists and insurgents, especially foreign, will no longer be able to as easily navigate and melt into more homogenized populations with heightened mutual interests and the absence of sectarian tensions.)

18. Go before the United Nations and humbly admit our mistakes. Quantify our achievements. Humbly request all the international help we can get. (America lost enormous international sympathy and support from the 9/11 incident when the world began to perceive an America that was bully-ish, un-cooperative and trigger-happy. Not only in Iraq, but also in the war on terror, we’re going to need all the help we can get. We certainly don’t need to lose any more ground. Toning down the cowboy act will go a long way in securing the international cooperation necessary to strangle and snuff out al Qaeda. Otherwise, we will fail.)

19. Focusing on Baghdad, rebuild Iraq with a Volunteer Unified Iraqi Engineering Corp. and equitably accept applications for the gradual re-population of Baghdad with the I.D. card system. (The psychological impact of a Baghdad the-shining-jewel-of-Arabia resided over by a popularly elected democratic government would set a precedent from which both Iraq and the world would benefit for generations to come.)

20. Help the Iraqi officials see the kind of Iraq they could have and tell the Iraqis to implement the plan or come up with a better one by _______ or we’ve gone as far as we can go. (At the end of the day the Iraqis must know that they would be the primary beneficiaries of a free, unified and rebuilt Iraq. But, also, that they themselves will be primarily responsible for making this a reality.)

Even in light of losing over 2,300-plus American service men and women, even in light of having over 17,000 Americans wounded, even in light of over 30,000 Iraqis being killed by both sides, even in light of a cost approaching $400 billion dollars, the greatest obstacle to success in Iraq is still not necessarily the debacle on the ground, but the insurgents lullaby, rising opposition at home. How tough the task is not the anathema. History has demonstrated on numerous occasions that Americans are a tough and resilient people. The abomination is the perception that every life lost was a life wasted. That is what America finds intolerable. And we should. President Bush may have simply allowed himself to run out of time by not properly following through on a brilliant strategic move. (Do you really think the Russians would have stopped there if they had successfully subdued Afghanistan? By the way, where do T-24 tanks come from anyway?)

Still there are the immediate questions concerning a continued American commitment to Afghanistan� and ominous situations in both Iran and North Korea. And where-oh-where is Osama bin Laden?

Although we as American citizens look to our government to prioritize and manage these crises in our behalf, ultimately it is we as American citizens who decide whether we stay or abandon the course.

Can the United States prevail in the Iraq conflict? You decide. Actually� you must decide.