How I would end the war in Iraq
The way I would get the U.S. out of this quagmire that that imbecile, George W. Bush, got us into in Iraq, would require the strategies that both incompetent political parties support: troop surge and then withdraw.
Right now, members of the Iraqi legislature are planning their Summer long vacation... Summer long! If this isn't an indication of why these Iraqi elected officials want us to remain in Iraq, then I don't know what is. These politicians are more corrupt then the Republican 'do nothing' Congress! How can they possibly even consider going home a couple of hours early let alone take a 2 month vacation?! Simple, so long as we're there to 'keep the peace', they don't have to do anything. So long as our men and women in service defend THEIR country on THEIR soil, they don't have to train their military.
Now, unfortunately, we can't just withdraw our troops immedietly like I want us to, too many innocent people will die, be tortured or worse. Thank you Bush, for making a mess that we get to clean up! Typical Republican. We have to increase the number of troops we have on the ground in Iraq to give relief to those that are already there. We need to DOUBLE the current number of servicemen and make damn sure they have the equipment, services, medical care and armor that they need (what a crappy leader our 'commander in chief' is). If we have close to 300,000 troops in Iraq, then we can realistically keep the peace long enough for Iraq to build up their military.
What would be their incentive to aggressively train their troops? Simple, we leave in 2008. That's it. We not only tell the Iraqi government, but we tell the world. We let EVERYBODY IN THE WORLD know that we're leaving and the Iraqi's will have control over their country again. Now our leaving will leave a void and the Iraqi government better damn well fill that void or else someone else will. There's their incentive to get off their asses and stop their ridiculous bickering over which misinterpretation of the Quran is less inaccurate. They will be forced to reconcile their differences or else be annihilated.
That seems pretty cold, but there will always be difference of opinion in a people of a country and unless they unite for a common goal, then they will fall as a sovereign nation. United we stand, divided we fall. The reason the Sunni's and the Shi'ites continue to slaughter each other is because they can afford to. So long as we remain in Iraq and play mother hen, then they can continue to act on their silly religious prejudices. The one thing both religious sects agree on is the end of the U.S. occupation. Fine, you want us gone? Well we want to go, but unless these people unite as a nation then our leaving will decimate the entire region. All because George W. Bush wanted to be a heroic war president.
This is the philosophy of Yin-Yang, the universal philosophy. The only way to acheive balance and harmony is by applying the direct opposite fury against the one causing the problem. The idle rich that work on Capitol Hill only see half of the solution, only their piece of the pie, but only by bringing both halves together will we get the whole solution.