Proposal

I was contemplating the problem we have and will continue to have for many years in Iraq. Already, Georgie is making 'cut and run' noises, and will no doubt make a token troop reduction before the 2006 elections to help himself politically - because domestic politics trumps all. But shortly after that, we'll be right back there, 138,000 or more American troops fighting Vietnam all over again. They walk into a village and 'liberate' it, then walk out as the insurgency pours in behind them.

Certainly it's a waste of American lives, and just as importantly it's a waste of Iraqi lives. Every day you read in the paper that another batch of executed corpses has been 'discovered,' and that another car bomb has exploded - killing the innocent and guilty alike. There is no resolution to the sectarian violence, and impending civil war. The only realistic hope is that in 30 years they'll get sick of nailing each other to the floor, like the Irish did (or may have done).

Certainly Rummy's surreality-based DoD has not the first clue what to do about it. It's their mess, and now even the neocons are saying we should get out because it's been so badly mangled. Boy, that's neocons for you - no staying power. They chose the war, but since nation-building is actual work they're just not up to it. Maybe all those State Department peaceniks were right and they should have used the huge multi-faceted exhaustively-researched plan to rebuild Iraq that Rummy had torn into strips and used as bog paper?

Maybe.

But since the neocons have brought us low with their refusal to accept the reality of reality, here's a modest and surreal proposal for getting out of Iraq today:

Let's hire the Israelis to take over the occupation.

Look: The IDF has lots of people - there are over 2 million Israeli men and women who are considered capable of taking up arms. And they're all trained through their mandatory service in arms. So, for them, peeling off 138,000 - or more realistically 300,00 or 400,000 - troops is not a huge problem.

Everybody already hates Israel, so their status in the world wouldn't change. They know how to run a country and an economy. What do you want to bet they'd have the power and sewage working inside a month?

Best of all, they operate in the real world. They don't put thousands of lives on the chopping block for some notional theory about war-fighting like Rummy does. They can't afford to be that deluded and bloody.

Their forces could be replaced in Israel by EU troops - not Americans. US forces would be targets there and we'd be no better off. Troops from the EU would be treated as friends - they don't mind watching Jews die. They've proved that time and time again. They'd have to be under Israeli military command, or else they'd quickly turn into terrorists themselves. But they would understand, finally, that if they let the barbarians through the gate, there's no place to retreat to. They'd have to stand and fight.

Georgie likes to outsource jobs to India and ports to Dubai, so he can outsource this whole mess to Israel. Pay them on a cost-plus basis. Hell, they'd have to be cheaper than Halliburton.
If Israel took over, they would be doing it with a clear benefit to their country in money and security. That's a lot more than any American can say about this debacle.

So think it over. I think we can talk terms...