My Own Magic Pony Plan for Iraq

OK Dana, I hear you say. Where is your magic pony plan?

Here it is.

1. Secure the safety of our men and women, by withdrawing all in-country troops to secure bases.
2. Promise to take them all out following a negotiated settlement.
3. Talk to everyone. EVERYONE. Use the UN, use Iran, use the devil himself if need be. Just get people talking instead of blowing each other up.
4. Be prepared to pay reparations based on a valid peace agreement, to a designated regime which proves it can control the country. That's the incentive for coming to a settlement.
5. Follow the agreement, and get our people home safely.

The first priority at this point is keeping our own people alive, minimizing the further damage we do to the cradle of civilization. Forget face-saving. Forget victory. We no longer have a face to save. We lost.  You got a problem with that, take it up with the idiot who bungled this war.

Now, how does this compare with what so-called "experts" are saying?

• Folks on the right say blow the place up. (Already done that, sorry.)
   
• Some wanker on the left suggested bringing back Saddam Hussein. (Think we ought to ask the Iraqis first?)
• The Baker Boys suggest adding 20,000 more people to the meat grinder and waiting six months to see what happens. (Screw that.)

I figure my pony plan is as good as anyone's. And it's got its priority in the right place. With the troops. Support the troops. Stop getting them killed for no reason.

We owe them that.