Ok, I am not sure if this is a good idea. I can find holes in it myself. But in the spirit of bringing up ideas other than the standard two (stay or leave), if nothing else this might lead to a better end result.
What if we turn Iraq, all of it, over to the Kurds. Iraq can become Kurdistan. In return the Kurds provide Turkey with specific actions that Turkey finds credible, that they renounce all Kurdish claims to any of Turkey and will assist Turkey with any cross border raids, etc by Kurdish seperatists from Iraq into Turkey.
What does that get us? First, we are turning it over to a democratic government. The Kurds are not perfect but they have a functioning relatively free democratic system. Compared to any other alternative it is by far the best alternative.
Second, they almost certainly have the necessary ruthlessness to combat the insurgency in Iraq. And that is a good thing. Because the alternative is Shia fundamentalism in many areas which is even more ruthless.
Third, they also have a much better picture of who they can work with and who they need to fight. And they have the only local army that is trained and professional.
While this would not be a great deal for the Kurds, they would still probably take it because it gives them Kurdistan. And they could then provide criteria by which other provinces would gain the right to vote once the insurgency was reduced to insignificance in each.
Turkey and Saudia Arabia would probably both be willing to provide active support if they received credible assurances they needed (for the Saudia's it's stopping the emergence of a Shia state on its border).
This would get us out of there. And it would give all of the people of Iraq a more liberal, democratic, secure state than any other alternative I have heard of.
Yes its anti-democratic in that only Kurds would have the vote and power at first. But that is still, I think, better than the likely alternatives.
What do you think? And does this trigger thoughts of any other good alternatives?
