How to get out

While I'm very critical of Bush's misadventure in Iraq, I have to admit that I haven't really had an answer to the question, "what do we do now?" Pull all troops out now and Iraq will descend into civil war. And if the civil wars in Lebanon and the Balkans have shown us anything, it's that this is a very, very bad thing. But keeping U.S. and British troops in Iraq is definitely not an option in the long term and our continuing presence smacks of imperialism.

Juan Cole, a well-respected history professor from the University of Michigan (one of the top ten when it comes to Middle East History), appeared on Democracy Now! to talk with Amy Goodman yesterday about just what should be done. He outlines a ten-point plan for getting out of Iraq that would include a gradual draw down of troops, district-based elections rather than proportional, and using indigenious Iraqi firms to hire indigenious Iraqis to rebuild the country. It's one of the best plans to come from the Left that I've seen and merits the attention of those of us wanting to see peace in Iraq.