USA war on terror

First I want to emphasize that if I had had a blog in 1994, you would have seen an entry in the fall of that year concerning the future terrorist use of aircraft as weapons against buildings, and the need for active military prosecution of terrorists. The War on Terror is long overdue, but I can't say that we are fighting it in the most effective manner at this time. I acknowledge great room for improvement on that front, but I must admit that it is far better than our approach during the Clinton years.

So there was a threat from terrorists which no one wanted to face seriously. Now the USA faces her terrorist enemies with her full military might and power, and her enemies disperse and cower from her wrath. On the other hand, a great many people around the world are angry at the USA for many reasons, all of which are at least partly justified.

The Taliban in Afghanistan was given notice to deliver Al Qaida operatives within its borders to US custody or risk war. They resisted and the US invaded with all her might and wrath still steaming from the then recent attacks on the WTC towers, the Pentagon, and the loss of four civilian aircraft and their civilian crew and passengers (usually referred to as the 9/11 attacks).

Many Al Qaida operatives fled into neighboring countries, including Pakistan, Iraq, and Iran, so the wrath of the USA from the 9/11 attacks turned to these countries for extradition of her enemies. Pakistan greatly strengthened relations with full cooperation. Iraq and Iran greatly hurt relations with no cooperation. So American anger turned to the easiest target Iraq, being already in defiance of the UN sanctions and regulations imposed upon it and continuing to financial reward terrorists and publicly proclaim the annhilation of Israel, the harsh punishment of America for her alliance with Israel, and the subjugation of the world to Islamic rule.

So American anger initiates a War in Iraq which frees US military presence from Saudi Arabia (the holiest Islamic territory), topples a dangerous dictator and sponsor of terror, removes the daily risk to our pilots and aircraft enforcing the no-fly zones, and finds an effective battleground against foreign terrorists (easier to fight the enemy when it comes out of hiding and identifies itself).

Here is where things went wrong. American troops adopted a big brother role, instead of a big mentor role. They did massive engineering and humanitarian work (both of which were politically motivated) for the Iraqis out the expense of the government of the USA. They conducted massive searches (politically motivated) for Saddam Hussein. We've wasted a lot of money and time on political issues while maintaining an Iraqi dependence on the American occupation of Iraq. We can't afford to fight this war against terror like that. We need powerful friends, so we need to make friends by mentoring them to achieve independence and to become powerful by their own efforts.

Here is what I think should have happened after the suppression of the insurgents. The USA should have seized complete control of the oil and its protection in addition to control of all of the major cities. They should have then trained and then contracted local government and engineering guilds for the restoration of civil order (police), utilities, and military defense. Most of the US troops should trained the police and the military first alongside of their operations with pay increases for increasing levels of involvement, until the US forces are transferring authority and funding to the Iraqi forces over a three month proving and supporting phase. US troops withdraw from each region after this period and focus on other regions (the oil resources being the last) until they are no longer needed and are withdrawn from the country completely, at which time complete control of the oil has been transferred to the country of Iraq. As for their constitution, I already have a document in mind, which is my own work-in-progress, based on the concept of True Democracy (search Yahoo Groups for it).