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Israelis get out of this a 10 year friendly force U.S. occupation in the Middle East. The Iraqis get relief from our whole-country occupation, our support for keeping "one" regionalized country, actual protected reconstruction of their oil industry and equitable, if insufficient distribution of profits from it. The contractors get to build new bases and the mercenaries get extended guard jobs. Bush gets the rebuke implied by pulling in our horns, removing our troops from whole Iraq occupation and the turn over of his immodest embassy.

It's also fantasy to think the U.S. can democratize Islamic countries by force and then they will automatically be favorable to U.S. - Israeli interests. It's a worse fantasy to think even that we can eliminate all armed groups in Middle East countries that attack us now and then. When Napoleon and Hitler each invaded Russia, a vast, primitive country with difficult terrain and bad weather, their armies were destroyed. Likewise with the U.S.S.R. in Afghanistan. We are already just holding on in Afghanistan and Iraq. If we have to fight Iran and in nuclear Pakistan as well, our military and economy will be severely stressed. War deficit spending will erode the dollar to the point where it will lose status as the world's reserve currency. Americans and our economy can tolerate a limited occupation, much less than in Europe since 1945 or Korea since 1953, but will not tolerate a two-generation war for "democracy." Antisemitism and isolationism would damage our historic bond with Israel beyond repair. So all Americans and especially friends of Israel, better step up and vocally and officially support the measures listed above and require Congress to refuse further war funding unless the President makes the redeployment and re-missioning of our troops described here the "way forward."

This set of measures, if adopted, it is likely to produce less casualties and expense than the endless counterinsurgency in Iraq, and not worsen the Palestinian and Afghan parts of the crisis. The quadrennial nominating process encourages Americans in the lazy self-delusion that just getting enough people to vote for the "right" candidates will solve our problems. It never has, and won't this time either. America's problems with war in the Middle East, free trade, energy and climate change have become too severe for us to accept the "Gridlock Excuse" - " it's the other guy's fault." We need to demand that the Republicans and Democrats hold a special post conventions meeting to create specific, bipartisan policy promises as to what they will do together to mitigate these problems. If the parties refuse, we need to threaten to crash the parties. Rank and file Republicans and Democrats ought to de-register from their parties to show their disapproval with current office holders, parties and candidates. Hopefully candidates with satisficing ideas like the one proposed here will emerge to run independent campaigns.

Learn more about this author, Robert Cogan.
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