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Iraqi RoadMap: An Exit Plan

Raed submitted by Nadia | 26.01.2006 18:38 | World


The bush administration should adopt this roadmap to assure giving Iraq back to Iraqis:
Sorry >>> Bye-Bye >>> then some War Crimes Tribunals and lots of Compen$ation.

The Iraqi RoadMap: An Exit Plan


The ongoing US-policy in Iraq is obviously not going very well. The emerging calls for an Exit Plan are getting louder every day inside and outside the US. The US administration should considder following other coalition governments and put a schedule for pulling-out the troops. The British Army is leaving Iraq soon, and so is the Italian one. Other smaller members of the US-led coalition have either fled Iraq already, or are on their way out.

Yet, fleeing Iraq won’t put an end for this crisis. The occupation governments should apologize to their citizens and to Iraqis for what they’ve done in Iraq. This admission of guilt should be followed by establishing a systematic compensation program where the coalition pays for its mistakes in Iraq.

The bush administration should adopt this roadmap to assure giving Iraq back to Iraqis:

1- Issue a Public Apology and hold responsibility for the destruction of Iraq and the murder or Iraqis. A public apology is important for both initiating a new starting-point in the Iraqi-Coalition relationship, and paying respect to victims’ families. The apology is essential in proving that the US administration is honest in changing its strategy this time, unlike the other half dozen of strategy changes that weren’t fruitful. This apology is a good way to start a new page to start fixing the big mistake called the “War of Liberation”. Even if we don't include consideration of the international laws and treaties that were violated during and after the war, this war has proven to be a mistake when the very phoney reason justifying it was confirmed to be incorrect once no WMD were found at all.

2- Announce A Schedule For Complete Military Pullout From Iraq: a full withdrawal that leaves no permanent bases behind. A timetable of 12 to 18 months seems to be reasonable from the military specialists’ point of view. Iraqis don’t want the occupation forces to stay in their country according to the latest polls, and all the Iraqi political parties have asked the occupation troops to leave Iraq during the reconciliation conference held in Cairo last November. The bush administration-funded myth about the Iraqi civil war has also proven to be wrong in the last couple of years. Iraqis proved they could handle the internal clashes by themselves and without the help of the occupation armies. In fact, the occupation armies and administrations were proven to be one of the direct reasons for the ongoing ethnic separation and tension. Iraq never had such an ethnic anxiety, and won’t have it after the occupation troops leave. If the bush administration didn’t hear or see all the previous requests made clear by millions of Iraqis asking the occupation forces to leave Iraq, I’m sure they won’t miss the expected official request of leaving Iraq that will be announced by the Iraqi government later this year.

3- Start fixing the mess caused by the war and occupation by both Paying Compensation And Bringing War Criminals To Justice. Iraq is paying 5% of its oil revenue since the early 1990s because of the unjustified war and occupation of Kuwait in 1990. Iraq should continue paying compensation to Kuwait and Kuwaitis because of the big mistake committed by Iraq, and the US-led coalition should pay compensation to Iraq and Iraqis because of the big mistake committed by the so called “coalition of the willing”. “The United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC) was created in 1991 as a subsidiary organ of the UN Security Council. Its mandate is to process claims and pay compensation for losses and damage suffered as a direct result of Iraq's unlawful invasion and occupation of Kuwait”. This committee should manage both the compensation to Kuwait and to Iraq. In addition, the war crimes committed by the US- led coalition won’t be forgotten or forgiven by Iraqis, Arabs, and Muslims until all war criminals are brought to justice.

Every extra day spent in Iraq will make it harder, and more costly, to leave. The 34,131 military attacks against the coalition forces in 2005 showed an increase of 30% from the year before, and it doesn’t seem that this year will be any better. Tens of thousands of Iraqi were killed and injured as a result of this occupation. Tens of thousands of coalition soldiers have been already killed and injured.

Why? Why should more civilians fall as a result of this unlawful war? Why should the US army wait until more major operations erupt while it can simply leave now?

Why should we wait until more people are left to die for no reason?

Iraqis will solve their own problems and rebuild the country by themselves, the same way they did many times in the past. Iraq and Iraqis have enough human resources and knowledge to manage their country, and they have a unique experience in post-war reconstruction which the rest of the world should learn from. Iraq and Iraqis don’t need any training or governance support; they don’t need any foreign assistance to help them fix the mess caused by the US led occupation. The best way in helping Iraqis is to leave them alone. Yet, a boost of some billions of dollars of compensation would make Iraqis lives even easier.

Stopping the current cycle of violent and leaving Iraq is better than waiting until more people are killed. Admitting mistakes is better than digging a deeper and keeping a false self-pride.

The US should bring the troops back home now.

It’s a better scenario than another humiliating-Somalia-Style-Kick-Out when some dozens of US soldiers got killed and dragged through the streets…
It’s a better scenario than another humiliating-Lebanese-Style-Kick-Out when hundreds of US soldiers were killed…
It’s a better scenario than another humiliating-Vietnam-Style-Kick-Out when tens of thousands of US soldiers were killed.

If any of the occupation governments really believed in democracy, freedom, and the right of Iraqis to rule themselves, here are the three simple steps to show their support:

Sorry >>> Bye-Bye >>> then some War Crimes Tribunals and lots of Compen$ation.

 http://raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com/2006/01/iraqi-roadmap-exit-plan.html
 http://www2.unog.ch/uncc/

Raed submitted by Nadia