The more I live, the more I am convinced that morality and pragmatism are not opposed but, rather, the same thing. Doing the right thing is the same as doing the expedient thing. The opposite is also true: Iraq is a military, political and fiscal mess BECAUSE it was a moral mess, from the start.
The rubik’s cube wrapped in a gordian knot that is finding peace in Iraq has a solution.
It involves righting the moral wrong that caused the mess in the first place.
The United States can’t just leave Iraq. Every careless, immoral action has negative consequences in the future. The US aided Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan, and paid dearly, for example. Simply leaving Iraq would probably cause a regional conflict to arise, with Saudi Arabia and Iran as the main players. Yes, US troops would be “out of harms way”, but the whole world would be in danger, especially since it is likely that any one of those counrties could become a nuclear power in the future.
The US must end the war, but it must also leave behind a sustainable, desirable situation. That situation is a united and stable Iraq that can serve as a buffer between Shia and Sunni countries in the region (as was the case with Saddam Hussein).
How can this be done? As I said, a great moral wrong was commited going into Iraq; it must be righted with great moral clarity.
Simply put, the US went into Iraq for profit. George Bush and his minions are not neocon ideologues trying to prolong the US empire, nor are they religious fanatics attempting to bring about armageddon. The Bush cabal is not noble enough to fight for ideals, however misguided they may be. George Bush and his cronies started this war because they were after the Iraqi oil.
Peace in Iraq can be achieved by giving up the oil. That’s right. Iraqi youth fight in militias partly because there is no other dignified alternative for them. Everybody wants to live in peace and prosperity, but such an option is not available to Iraqis, who have no choice but to fight or become sitting ducks.
The different factions of Iraq could unite if a dignified and peaceful life were offered to them. Such a life can by nationalizing petroleoum. This would be the plan:
- Create a loose federartion of states along the lines of religious affiliations, so that only foreign affairs and an army, designed for protection, not invasion, is handled by the federal government. Matters of law, morality, etc are decided by each state, but foreign policy is centralized, and handled by an executive power divided in three: a Sunni, a Shia and a Kurd (a similar system exists in Lebannon)
- Nationalize petroleum so that profits are divided evenly between the PEOPLE. The profits must not be handled by the state but given as an allowance to all Iraquis.
- Iraquis are free to determine the price of the oil, and have no commitments to any foreign petroleum company, but rather have a national petroleum company (like Venezuela’s PDVSA)
The US would make this offer (which would involve changing the Iraqi constitution) in exchange for cessation of hostilities between the factions and the commitment of a new Iraqui government to keep the middle east stable. Militia leaders would go for the deal or risk becoming unpopular. If the US makes a frank, moral, honest appeal to the Iraqui people, it will turn them around.
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Would the oil companies let this happen? Of course not! That’s why George Bush must be impeached, and the people awakened to the Corporatist takeover it is subject to.
