A Circular Solution

What a catastrophic blunder this administration has made of Iraq. It is as if the keystone cops have taken over the White House. We now have President Jalal Talabani going to Iran for help stating, “I think given the developments on the ground, unless something is done drastically and urgently to arrest the deteriorating situation, we could be there. In fact we are almost there," Unbelievable! Iran is now the best choice for security in Iraq. Iran pledging help is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Or is it a blatant attempt by the Iraqi leadership to dismiss Bush? Thus due to Bush's pure ideological ignorance the Middle East is imploding (I know some of you can't stand it when Bush's little feet are held to the fire but enough is enough)

Bush declared Iran part of the axis of evil and now Iraq meets with Ahmadinejad before meeting with Bush? What about Pre-emptive war? Nation building? Axis of evil? Complete Victory? The foreign policy compass is spinning out of control. The administration is waiting for a report from The Baker commission, before acting? What if Bush doesn’t like what he sees? Will he ask for another draft? Moreover, I thought Bush was the president and commander and chief and I thought this all knowing commission was created 6 months ago? Lost is he in the wilderness.

So one must find a solution. And a solution is needed.
1. Don’t leave Iraq
2. Move all forces out of Baghdad
3. Create a perimeter around the Sunni triangle and Baghdad
4. Fall back within the country and take the troops out of the civil war, i.e. move to Kurdish northern as Carl Conetta reveals in his PDA report, “Did the war liberate or humiliate Iraq? The March 2004 ABC poll found 82 percent of Kurds saying "liberate". Among Sunnis, only 21 percent held this view. Among Southern Shiites, 49 percent said liberate, while among Shiites elsewhere "liberate" was affirmed by 34 percent. (The mid-point between Kurdish and Sunni views would be 52 percent.)” and quiet southern provinces, create a bulwark and send in fast moving strike teams into Baghdad when needed, instead of large Army battalions
5. This circle approach will enable US troops to analyze the field of battle from an objective point of view, effectively letting the civil war rage without the deaths of US troops
6. A civil war is horrific however this is a war between factions within Iraqi society and not between Iraqi’s and the US soldiers
7. This will force the hand of the Iraqi government
8. Lastly, the circle approach can prevent foreign fighters from joining the war
9. Will civilians be killed? Yes, Will massacres be committed? Yes, Are these going to happen regardless of US troop presence? Yes
10. Special note: this will not be seen as cut and run or a sign of weakness, it will enable US troops to reenergize and help the Generals reassess the situation in Iraq, additionally, we will always have the ability to move back into Baghdad.

This solution will be criticized because Iraqi civilians will be killed, militias will run rough-shot through the streets, and the video images out of Iraq will be coated with innocent blood. However, this is a civil war and in a civil war everyone is a target, it is time to move our troops out of the target range and let the Shi’as and Sunnis fight it out. We must remove ourselves from the civil war and refocus our efforts. A winner will be declared in this civil war and then and only then will we have a clear objective.