Quote Originally Posted by Valleysboy1978
Well it looks like they listened to my advice! Although they used NATO instead
Cool! That will hopefully help matters.

I doubt if it would be possible to persuade the UN to take over Iraq after they sidelined them over the invasion. However, I'm also not convinced that this would be an appropriate use of the UN unless the peacekeeping forces where made up mainly of middle-eastern forces (which rules out NATO).

I suspect the biggest step forward will be made when Bush leaves office (This is not a politcal statement - regardless of whether a democrat or republican replaces him), but he is seen as the main agressor, and hopefully once he is out, there is a chance of calming things down.

Of course, he is only one focal point, and now that the hornets nest is stirred up, it will be difficult to control, however improving the lot of the normal Iraqi civilian would probably go a long way to helping matters. I posted a number of years ago, a tale of how we were putting in power generators to power the oil fields (at the US militarys expense I might add) when 95% of Iraqi's had no electricity. This kind of thing is an easy flash point for the Iraqi people, and can only aid our enemies. Try to pretend that it's not about taking their oil at cents on the dollar.

Also, I believe we need to stop ***** footing around with politics. For instance, what the hell is an insurgent? Let's be honest here and call the Iraqi Resistance, the Iraqi Criminal Opportunists and a seperate group who are Iraqi Terrorists by different names. Not everyone who picks up a gun in Iraq is a terrorist, and not everyone who picks up a gun is a freedom fighter. As long as we are deliberatly muddling the terms, it will always appear that the terrorists are garnering popular support. We have a chance to sort out the Iraqi resistance by addressing their concerns (such as not tortuing their people and locking up innocent people, raping and burning families etc. - this should be an easy first step). Stamp out the Iraqi criminal opportunists (by good police work - and fair trials), leaving just the terrorists to deal with. These are a harder nut to crack, and it may take a generation or two to sideline them into unconsequence. But that will be the only way to stop them (IMHO), is to make them irrelevant.