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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated
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To: LindyBill who wrote (122487)6/29/2005 7:18:49 PM
From: neolib  Read Replies (1) of 793917
 
What SPECIFICALLY would you have us change?

Make it unambiguously clear that conflicts of interest between our economic/energy interests have NO impact on our commitment to helping Iraq establish a modern state. I’d be draconian about this: no sizable contracts to US companies for any goods or services unless strictly needed for security reasons. Let Iraqi’s have the business, or control the placement of contracts. If they chose us, fine, if they chose France, fine! The notion that the spoils of war should come our way was and is VERY prevalent amongst conservative Americans that strongly support war. IMO, we are reaping the consequences of that now. Make damn sure that fiscal accountability and transparency is fundamental to all contracts. No lining the pockets of anyone, US or Iraqi.

Make it unambiguously clear that the life of an Iraqi is equally valuable as the life of an American. This I’m sure is very difficult for many Americans, because they don’t actually believe it is true. Again, we reap the consequences of this view IMO. I’d start by accounting for their dead, surely the most basic gesture that their lives had worth.

Tone down the rhetoric. The periodic comments about killing all the terrorists issued by everyone from Bush on down contributes nothing positive (other than Rah Rah for the team) while it does stoke the war mentality for the opposition. Words have consequences.

Last but not least, work to rebuild international support for our efforts. Again, this is largely a matter of changing the rhetoric to be less in the face. Unfortunately, the conservative political base has become more addicted in recent years to “straight talk” rhetoric.
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