How to Begin in Iraq

Much of the rumble about the Baker-Hamilton report concerns how to "fix" not only the American War in Iraq but all of the middle-east and southwest Asia.

The U.S. invaded Iraq and upset a brutal dictator who was holding a boiling cauldron of competing war lords and rival sects down by the use of savage killings and torture. Now we have removed the cover from the cauldron and it has exploded.

We cannot cure their problems because they want their problems and they don't want us. Unfortunate as it seems, we are limited in what we can do with only the use of guns and a small army. We don't speak the language, don't understand the religions or their many crucial and deadly nuances, we don't share the background of the people or understand their methods of solving problems. We bring logical management techinques, democratic principles and corporate hierarachies to the table and find they don't like tables.

What Bush has done is done, we cannot undo it. Most importantly we cannot bring Sunni, Kurd, Shiite, Christian and Jewish groups together in peace by waging war against them in their own homeland. They have not solved their own problems for some 1500 and more years. All we can do is to get our military men out of Iraq, try to get us back into the human race, and begin the cruicial and definitive work of international communication, dialog and negotiation.

A great place to begin is in the UN (especially since the Bolton thing has gone), and to work with Europe, the other countries in the middle-east (including Iran and Syria), and other nations in the world. There is help that can come to the middle-east, but it cannot be delivered by American bullets, bombs and CBUs - those just add to everybody's problems and misery - including our own. And don't forget our "troops" - they signed up to defend our country - not to be returning targets in a war that can't be won.

Don't even try to say the UN in inept and incapable. If America had put a tiny portion of the money, skill, knowledge, dedication and meticulous work into the UN that we have spent on war over the past 50 years, the UN would be a vastly different organization today, and we would all be much safer, richer and happier. Where do we begin? The Baker-Hamilton Report is a great place to begin. Today is a great place to begin. We have to start somewhere.

© John Womack, 2006. All rights reserved.