Before starting, it should be stressed that the horse has likely already left the barn. The Bushwhackers have messed Iraq up so much that it may be impossible to save Iraq from the worst nightmares.
Also, it is unlikely that the Bush League will abandon their war goals -- even though that abandonment is absolutely necessary to the plan working. I interpret those as getting strategic control over Iraqi oil and having permanent military bases in Iraq to "project power" over the entire Middle East (a second military presence, in addition to Israel). They have already likely gave up on the idea of helping their friends (Halliburton, etc.) make gigantic profits, but they are unlikely to give up on the big two. As I've said before, Iraq is like a monkey trap: the monkey is caught because it reaches into the coconut to get the food and is unwilling to release the food in order to make its paw small enough to exit the coconut. (The coconut is of course chained down, creating the trap.) Okay, what's my plan? It involves giving up on establishing capitalism (what the Bushies call "democracy") in Iraq. That's not possible without a sustained regime of law and order. -- Jim Devine / "In the years since the phrase became a cliché, I have received any number of compliments for my supposed ability to 'think outside the box.' Actually, it has been a struggle for me to perceive just what these 'boxes' were — why they were there, why other people regarded them as important, where their borderlines might be, how to live safely within and without them." -- Tim Page (THE NEW YORKER, August 20, 2007).
