4/2/03
Stop fighting and declare victory. Focus on winning the hearts and minds of those in the north and south, where we believe we are in control (we'll call it "Free Iraq"). The strategy is to create a society that will make those in Baghdad envious and at the same time show them that our motives are good and that we can be trusted. Get the U.N. involved in our remaking of Free Iraq. Ask ourselves what do we really want from Baghdad and how are we likely to get it? Sell this to the American people and the world with honest arguments. Enter into negotiations with those still in control of Baghdad.
I would give a speech in which I:
1)order an immediate cease-fire
2) declare victory so that present deaths don't seem pointless
3) Apologize to the American people that their leader has been lying to them. The seriousness of the present situation requires truth and trust.
4) Point out that the very things that make us strong - a free and critical press - a two party system with checks and balances - our civil liberties - a diversity of opinion - have been undermined by a misguided patriotism of blind unquestioning obedience. We need to get recentered and celebrate the pluralism that truly makes us great, strong and admired. As a first step in our new commitment to democracy, we must restore our faith in honest and fair elections by scrapping our seriously flawed system of plurality voting in favor of democratic systems such as approval voting or instant runoff voting.
5) Announce a new spirit of American participation in, and leadership of, the Community of Nations. We will address Global Climate Change in a serious way using Kyoto as a starting point. We will support the International Court of Justice, the Biological Weapons treaty, the Chemical Weapons treaty, the treaty on land mines, we will approve the nuclear test ban treaty, and reinstate the ABM treaty (immediately halting the star wars defense system - admitting to the American people the lies on which it was based). We will work to strengthen the U.N. - pay our fair dues, and ask it to take a role in the 'liberated' parts of Iraq that we occupy.
6) Thank the nations that have stood by us right or wrong. Forgive and then thank the nations that we have been mad at for trying to help us live up to our highest standards. Make amends to the countries we have bullied, deceived and blackmailed.
7) Announce a new approach to the World's problem with International Terrorism.
a) it is not a U.S. issue but a global one requiring the entire Community of Nations to get involved at many levels including the U.N. and the International Court of Justice, NATO, INTERPOL, OAS, UNESCO, IMF, WHO etc.
b) lashing out in vengeance may feel good but it is a counterproductive strategy.
c) hate and violence feed terror, while justice diminishes it.
d) the concept of collective guilt turns one enemy into thousands
e) we should be promoting justice in the world at many levels.
f) we will ask other countries through the U.N. or otherwise to join us in calling those (mostly it seems in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan) who bear responsibility, to account for the crimes of 9/11.
g) The case will be made against Bin laden et al. who will be charged in the International Court of Justice, and if found guilty we will insist that other nations cooperate in their seizure.
h) We will address trouble spots in the world doggedly and evenhandedly - in particular Kashmir and Israel/Palestine.
i) We will be serious about recreating a world with fewer nuclear weapons and fewer nations with nuclear weapons.
j) We will call despots to task bringing up charges against them as appropriate. Saddam would be a good place to start.
8) No nation lives in isolation, as a nation great in its beauty, history, idealism, wealth, pluralism, and industry it is our imperative to lead the world towards a New World Order. An order built on justice not militarism, trust not bullying and cooperation not imperialism.
9) Restore sanity to our economic policies. 10) Take a nap.