A way out of Iraq

[Uryoces]

We spent a good two hours discussing the Iraq and North Korea situations Friday night at work. Not that there are Iraqis and North Koreans here at work Friday nights, I mean ... Anyway. We got interesting viewpoints from around the room. Mike, the quiet guy, talked about bible prophecy and the end of the world. I kindly threw in that the billion year cycle of the Mayan calendar ends in 2012. Beau thought we should have removed Saddam the first time around. I thought we left him there so we had a boogeyman to bring up if we needed one. Darren was a Gulf War I veteran; he thought we should have gotten Saddam the first time. He didn't like the idea of going back to or sending anyone to Iraq. He had some pretty gruesome stories about some of his buddies and some Iraqi tankers [men who drive tanks] they met up with. Lots of waiting, searing heat, numbing cold interspersed with bits of life-threatening action. Ruben thought we should have immediately gone in after Saddam if we thought he had weapons, no diplomacy. I think Ruben was kidding. Maybe...

I think we should have sent Dick Marcinko in after Saddam; a surgical strike. We have a policy of not assassinating political leaders 'cause it's wrong'. Last attempt was against Iddi Amin in 1975, which was CIA sponsored. I give a hearty and confused 'WTF' at the no assassination rule. Why are we going to war against the Iraqi then?

Someone will undoubtedly bring up our involvement with Afghanistan. We originally assisted the Mujahadeen -- of which Osama bin Laden was a member -- against the Soviet-backed government. Once the war was over, and we were through; we left. It's been suggested that we should have stayed and helped rebuild, but we didn't. We weren't popular with the Islamic world. Saudi Arabia should have stepped in, an Islamic country helping another, but they didn't.

It was kind of an interesting to discover that Osama bin Laden went to the Saudi defense minister and asked that they not allow the US into Saudi Arabia, that he be allowed to drive Saddam out. He didn't want the US's presence on holy ground. The Saudi government told him no, and Osama blew a seal. Whether or not Osama is pinnipedophelic is another story, but by this I mean 'went crazy'. He began advocating the overthrow of the Saudi monarchy, and of course they weren't going to stand for that. He was branded a criminal and exiled. It became a case of me against my cousin; my cousin and I against the world.

I don't really see our government as good or evil. It is simply a massive entity that has no malice nor compassion. Our attempts at obtaining oil have produced some strange partnerships, and lead to some catastrophic problems. I don't think anyone in the government meant for anything to happen. We definitely need to reduce our dependence on oil, foreign or domestic. However that's for another post.

So to the heart of it: I think Saddam needs to buy a black market nuclear weapon. It may not even have to have the plutonium core; just enough to demonstrate there was a bomb. The Iraqi government needs to bring it forth -- to the UN, not the US -- and say "Well, we were lying. We were working on this, and thought better of it. You caught us. Boy you inspectors sure are good." The job is accomplished. Bush has proof of his nuclear weapon, and we can go home. Saddam saves face by giving it to the UN, and proving they are a capable nation, Bush saves face because he was right. I think congress and the senate will tell Bush to back down, he found what he was looking for. We can all exchange cards and flowers, and call it done. We can then send Jimmy Carter and some Marx Brothers DVD's to North Korea to settle that problem. I really get the feeling China is not going to step in to help North Korea if it does anything stupid. They're going to try and smooth things over, keep everyone talking, but that's it. But, as I said before, that's for another post.