National Year of Service

Okay, so can we all agree that the Iraq War was the worst idea we've ever had as country since, oh, I don't know, Prohibition. But as to the tactics 43 is recommending, I still have to say that our current president, despite protestations to the contrary, lacks the testicular fortitude to really solve this problem. If he believes, as Gen. Petraeus seems to, that boots on the ground is the answer to the problem, then why can't we go down the oft-quoted path of Gen. Shinseki? This would be the same path 41 led us down in Rumble in the Desert 1, namely 500,000 troops on the ground. Are you asking me if I'm f-ing crazy right now. Well, I'll tell you this. I think the U.S. has three options in Iraq.

The first I will call the option of least resistance, which is slowly withdraw American troops and watch Iraq become an Islamic Republic with an interminable Sunni guerrila war (funded by our autocratic Sunni "allies" in the region) and a breakaway province of Kurdistan which will ignite Kurdish rebellions in Turkey and Iran.

The second option is what I will call the "Shake and Bake" option, which is to establish three countries with capitals in Basra, Tikrit, and Irbil, draw some arbitrary boundries on a map, and let them fight it out amongst themselves.

The third option is to instate a national year of service, demanding that every 18-year old, male, female, or LGBT either sign up for AmeriCorps, the Peace Corps for one year (at current pay levels), or sign a three year commitment to the U.S. Armed Forces. There could be exceptions for severe emotional or mental handicaps. Then we ship these young men and women into Baghdad and Al-Anbar province and have then patrol every street 24 hours every day. This may not solve the problem but it would go a long way to waking our generation up to its cycnicism and egotism.

Of course, I'm just spitballing here, so that's where I'm at.