“PLAN B——T”
Dave Schuyler of The Glittering Eye posted on a bit of fuzzy headed nonsense today regarding an alternative plan B to having a democratic election in Iraq from Abu Khaleel of Iraqi Letter to America. I don’t blame Mr. Khaleel for wanting foreign troops to leave his country in a general sense but I’m having a hard time crediting that his Plan B is meant with any seriousness. Here it is, my comments will be in regular text:
“1. US maintains present course and status for a month but will only act in self defense and to preserve the peace and will not go after “insurgents” or carry out random searches and arrests, etc. during that month.”
Unilateral concessions to a multiheaded, 4GW insurgency of notorious inhumanity will result in the insurgency becoming the de facto government in waiting. Any latent Iraqi will to support a democratic regime will fold as local notables go into hiding or flee for their lives to avoid the inevitable killing fields style massacres that will begin as the Americans withdraw. Capital will flee too, so whatever nascent economic activty that currently exists in Iraq will vanish.
This is already a dumb plan. Not just for Iraq but for anywhere.
“2. US announces and implements an immediate freeze on the building of permanent military bases in Iraq. If there is no such intention (!) they can publicly and categorically state their policy in this regard.”
This would be a relatively meaningless concession though I’m not sure if either the Bush administration or Abu Khaleel realizes it.
“3. The US goes to the UN to help establish, within 2-4 weeks, a “International Council for Iraq” (ICI). Two alternatives are possible:”
Been there and done that several times already. Legitimacy does not flow from the UN, it flows from the consent of the governed. In any event, the radical Islamists and al Qaida view the UN as an ” un-Islamic ” Western puppet show. The Baathists too have every incentive here to keep fighting as they simply do not want the Yankees out of Iraq, they want us out and a Sunni-Baathist dictatorship in power.
“A council of 15 members each nominated by a UN Security Council member state and approved by a majority of the other members.
A council of 5 members of internationally respected figures nominated by the UN General Assembly and approved by the UN Security Council.
This council is to act as the supreme authority for running the country in the interim period of 6 months.”
A rearrangement of deck chairs and catchy UN-speak acronyms.
“4. The US reiterates its intention to withdraw completely from Iraq at the request of the ICI or a democratically elected government.”
So the insurgency can kill them with less inconvenience.
“5. Work out a UN Security Council resolution to “guarantee” the continuity of democracy in Iraq, under chapter 7 of the UN Charter (which authorizes the use of force). This is to guarantee that no military coup or other means of force are used to overthrow the newly born democracy of Iraq for a number of years. Iraq is already an international problem in many respects.”
The quotation marks were well-placed by Mr. Khaleel. The guarantee will be worth about as much as the paper resolutions in stopping a military coup by the ARVN – sorry – new Iraqi army, to say nothing of stopping the insurgents.
“6. Place the Multi-national forces now in Iraq as well as the Iraqi army, police, etc. under the political authority of the ICI.”
The track record of UN peacekeepers in Rwanda and Bosnia comes to mind here.
“7. The ICI is given an international mandate for six months to establish a democratic government in Iraq, without any conditions on its conduct apart from the objectives mentioned above and normal financial auditing.”
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