I know how to fix Iraq. What next?

I believe I've figured out how to fix Iraq so that Iraqis are happy, Americans are happy, the world approves of how we handle it, and we can actually leave with a shred of dignity and honor when all is said and done.

The problem is, I have no idea where the "suggestion box" is, or how to get the idea out there where it will actually be read. I mean, obviously I can't present it to Bush, I'm not even sure he can read, and even if he could, he'd ignore it. Maybe I can submit it to Gates? Rice? Someone?

Does anyone know the proper channels? I seriously think I've got the solution, and I'd rather it not get wasted on a President who won't read or utilize it. Maybe Nancy Pelosi? Barak Obama? Anyone know who to present it to?

Most Senators and Congressmen have their own websites, and on their website they will have a button that says something like "contact." Click on that button and you should be able to submit your idea to the representative.

Sometimes there will also be a telephone number on the website that you can call and submit your idea.

You could probably find any of their websites by googling their name and office.

You could present it to us, here, and if it is as good as you think it is, you can get some feed back and public support for it.

Maybe I can submit it to Gates? Rice? Someone?

Interesting question. I dug into it a bit and found out that their snail mail address is public. So yes you could mail them.

www.defenselink.mil...

Also it appears that the DOD has an "ask a question/send a comment" webpage.

www.defenselink.mil...

[Shrugs]

You suggest the Neo-Cons are NOT happy with the state of affairs in Iraq.

The fact is - promoting chaos in the region - and breaking up Irag into it's tribal factions is exactly what the plan was all along.

Don't get me wrong - they'd of been happy if the whole country was full of peaceful little sheep who rolled over to do their bidding - but they knew exactly what the realistic result was.

And now the "allies" continue to increase their dominance in the area to artificially control Oil Production.

To these ellitests - a couple Trillion and several thousand trrops are quite disposable.

And as for civillian causalties in the region - that's just effective population control.

I know - to empathetic Humans it is a disaster - but to wholly amoral power hungry criminal cowards - it's just another day at the office.

what we need is suggestions on how to take the world back from these free-loading parasites who use the Central Banks to artificial prolong their unhealthy existance.

You have developed a comprehensive plan that will render all parties involved in Iraq satisfied with the resolution. The troops will come home, the killing will stop, democracy will reign, peace and tranquility will pervade the region. Not since Henry Kissinger negotiated his way into Jill St. John's pants has such a diplomatic enterprise been equaled. The Major is duly impressed. Just one quick question. Despite the unparalleled cognitive ability to construe such an ambitious plan, you are unable to to find a way of conveying it to the proper authorities?

Time for "Plan B" methinks.

Dismissed

Sorry it took so long to respond, all, but this was posted right before I went home for the weekend, where my internet service went phbbt till it was too late to check ATS. Anyway, thank you for your patience, for those that still have an interest in this thread. I will do my best to address each response in turn before posting the plan.

Originally posted by SkyWay
Most Senators and Congressmen have their own websites, and on their website they will have a button that says something like "contact." Click on that button and you should be able to submit your idea to the representative.

Well, that's a bit of a problem. My local representative is a Republican. And, nothing against Republicans out there, but if Bush has flat out ignored every other plan except "gimme another 20k troops" and he is the head Republican at the moment, I believe that any presentation of my plan to the Republican party would be a wasted effort. Bush is, however, challenging the Democrats to provide an alternative plan since they are so disenfranchised with the idea of a Surge. I am not a Democrat or Republican, but as far as I can tell, Democrats are the only remaining option left with enough power to change Iraq's situation, as well as having the political and media strategic position to be able to hold a differing view from Bush's. A Republican, even if they had the willingness to go with a different position, would be powerless to enact it.

Originally posted by makeitso

Maybe I can submit it to Gates? Rice? Someone?

Interesting question. I dug into it a bit and found out that their snail mail address is public. (...snip...)

Thanks for the links. I'll try those as well. I'm nervous about touching .mil pages, but perhaps it'll be the only way. Problem is, as far as I know, the military doesn't make policy, they enforce the policy dictated to them by the Powers That Be, so again, not sure how much help it would be, but perhaps they know who to refer me to. I'll try the links.

Originally posted by TruthMagnet
You suggest the Neo-Cons are NOT happy with the state of affairs in Iraq.

No, no, no. I would never suggest anything of the sort. The NATION is not happy with the state of affairs in Iraq. I could give a bowel movement about how the NeoCons feel. They're the ones who "failed" in Iraq in the first place and refuse to accept any other alternative, which is why I'm so hard-pressed to find a viable channel through which to deliver this plan.

Originally posted by Major Discrepancy
You have developed a comprehensive plan that will render all parties involved in Iraq satisfied with the resolution.

Yes. Or at least half of the people happy half of the time, which is usually enough to get the job done, because the rest will be "meh".

Originally posted by Major Discrepancy
The troops will come home, the killing will stop, democracy will reign, peace and tranquility will pervade the region.

Yes. More or less. Perhaps not immediately, but the effect, once started, will increase exponentially.

Originally posted by Major Discrepancy
Not since Henry Kissinger negotiated his way into Jill St. John's pants has such a diplomatic enterprise been equaled. The Major is duly impressed.

Why, thank you. It's a good thing that sarcasm is lost on me.

Originally posted by Major Discrepancy
Just one quick question. Despite the unparalleled cognitive ability to construe such an ambitious plan, you are unable to to find a way of conveying it to the proper authorities?

Time for "Plan B" methinks.

Ah, you misunderstand me. I could rather easily deliver this plan to the Republicans, whom represent my district, my senatorial seat, and my state, but as I mentioned earlier in this particular post, that would be a pointless enterprise. What I lack is the beaurocratic channel to get this plan into the hands of SOMEONE WHO CAN AND WILL ENACT IT. As far as I can tell, that would be the Democrats, but unless you are a constituent of a government rep, they do not read the letters, and I'm not represented by a single Democrat. Just my luck.

I attempted to email Nancy Pelosi as speaker of the house, and have yet to receive a response, which, frankly, does not surprise me in the least. Nothing against Ms. Pelosi, because if I were her, I wouldn't have time to read every email either.

Also, while your rapacious wit and wisdom do reflect rather well the irony of my problem, I fear you've associated civil engineering knowledge to be the same as navigating government beaurocracy. Rest assured, as someone who's had family in both positions, they are absolutely nothing alike.

Originally posted by Nygdan
You could present it to us, here, and if it is as good as you think it is, you can get some feed back and public support for it.

Absolutley. I'll put it in a seperate post on this thread, since I have an idea it will be rather long. I'll work on it between calls, should be ready in a few hours.

Look I doubt you TheLibra with no experience in foreign policy, no experience in Iraq, no experience in Arab culture or history, no experience in the Mohamedean religious sects, no experience in military force and no experience in civil service....have a CLUE of what to do about Iraq.

Sorry, but I believe my opinion to be slightly higher in value than yours.

I'll put some research in on your behalf and let you know what I come up with.

I think you're most likely to be heard if you go through the dominant system, even if that does mean starting at the bottom.

I'll try to identify a Democrat in the House with a relevant committee assignment and a history that might indicate some favorable predisposition, and I'll try to hunt down which groups dealing with such matters contributed to his election.

You send your congressman a letter, and an intern will write a form letter and make a checkmark under the appropriate column on a sheet, reporting at the end of the week only that "we recieved over three hundred letters about Iraq this week".

You pitch the idea to an important constituent group who that same congressman can count on for a radio ad in the next election as long as he doesn't anger them, and if you're lucky the next time the congressman sends a staffer to have lunch with the head of that group and get the monthly laundry list, the guy's gonna say "you know, some of my staff are really intrigued by this idea somebody turned us onto, and we can make it a real feather in your cap if you can steer your committee into investigating it".

Now, I haven't been in the game on that level so I'm giving you a 3rd hand explanation of how things work- don't give it more credit than that warrants. But this is how I've heard of business being done by the several different labor unions- they get to meet with a congressman or his staffer every so often and make their concerns known, and the staffer who does it is usually someone who the congressman trusts to actually deliver information to him- not just placate constituents. My poli-sci prof used to do that job for his congressman, and the BA at the Carpenter's Local I used to work out of used to explain such things to me also.

Giving me at least a broad outline of the plan would make it a little easier to figure out who would have the most favorable disposition to such an idea. Also, knowing your state or at least geographic region would give me an idea of which congressmen I should look into first. (by some quirk of railroad influence on history, the states east and west of your own are generally likely to be pretty similiar to yours, while going North or South can make almost as much difference as going all the way across the country. Even if you can't contact someone who actually represents you, contacting someone who knows he has contituents like you would be good.)

I don't think giving out 'Free Pint of Beer at your local Pub' coupons would satisfy everyone in America and Iraq, in fact I believe most (?) Muslims don't even drink alcohol. Very poor plan my friend.

However, if they were 'Free Bag of Roasted Peanuts' coupons.....

Originally posted by FreiMaurer
Look I doubt you TheLibra with no experience in foreign policy, no experience in Iraq, no experience in Arab culture or history, no experience in the Mohamedean religious sects, no experience in military force and no experience in civil service....have a CLUE of what to do about Iraq.

Sorry, but I believe my opinion to be slightly higher in value than yours.

Then put up or shut up, troll!

The Libra, email Gov. Bill Richardson. The next president of the United States.

Mod Note: Courtesy Is Mandatory – Please Review This Link.

Just a quick reminder to all that ATS emphasizes civil discourse.

Your problem, it seems to me, is democracy.

Unfortunately you are just one of around 400 million people, yet you want to the government that represents all of them to enact YOUR wishes. I don't mean to sound facetious here.. but basically, as you've alrady realized, there is little chance of even having your suggestions read by anyone with the power to act on them.. that is, unless you gain some sort of influence. In a democracy, there a few tried and tested ways...the most reliable being :-

1. Be/become a respected, widely read political commentator, with national print readership and regualar network TV exposure.. or

2. Write research papers and develop you reputation so you can get a position in one of the major policy think-tank organisations. Work you way up, and prove yourself until you get the chance to be offered a job within the Administration as special policy advisor.. or

3. Voice your thoughts to other people who may be receptive, and try to get them to help you gain a voice. Over time, if it is a good idea, and your put enough years of your life into it, your ideas will spread, be supported, you may start to gain influence.. or

4. Join a the political party that fits your beliefs most strongly, work to promote the party and use your contacts there to discuss and hopefully propagate your ideas, as well as gain respect.. run for political office, get elected, serve your electorate and your party well while finding ways to unite people behind your ideas, hopefully ending up as president.. then you can do what you need to do.

As you can see, all of these ideas involve pretty much a lifetime's dedication to the cause, and a colossal amount of hard work... but that's the only way to really gain the kind of influence you're after.

AS a start though, why not discuss the idea here? Really great ideas take on a life of their own, so maybe you should just get it out there?





[edit on 22-1-2007 by nowthenlookhere]

Hello there, just a quick note to let y'all know I'm still putting the plan together, and it is non-political and non-religious in nature. For the detractors that have judged my plan a failure before even reading it, I can only say that such an approach to life will get you quite far in life, perhaps even the presidency, but it will not garner you any wisdom. I leave myself open to the possibility that my plan is flawed, that it could doom an entire people to...well...doom, or that it might never even see the light of day. But to reject a plan before even reading it is, in my humble opinion, the entire reason Iraq is currently in the mess it is in.

I do apologize for the time it is taking to get the plan together. For those that have read some of my previous "epic posts", rest assured this is another such post, probably encompassing 10-30,000 characters or more. I will actually be starting a new thread in the Survival Forum to house the plan because I feel the same plan can be applied to the building or rebuilding of a country in nearly any location after a Situation X renders the present civilization of a place null and void.

For those whom have provided me the points of contact to get this plan in the right hands, I thank you, and will persue those avenues as soon as the plan is actually typed out, which hopefully will be in the next day or so.

Here is my take if its any help....
If we had just used the new bombers at the beginning to drop paper all over iraq we would have been hailed a heroes and be gone already with fat contracts for oil and every good thing...
The paper we should have dropped on them is CASH!,3oo billion of the three sixty or so so far spent.
Say in hundred dollar bills.....
that would have made the firmest of friends of the whole kaboodle.
we would have raised the standard o living immensly and there would be
no collateral damage , no dead civvys,no horrible masacre of any one. Just thirty million iraqis with fistfulls o good old us bucks to buy consumer goods from us,
In the future i reccomend carrying out all wars with this buy out policy.
First calculate the cost of the objective, then drop about 80%of the cash directly to the problem from above.
we save money, and lives, and they get some bady needed help instead of cluster bombs.

Well thelibra I applaud you for posting this thread and I would suspect you would have expected some of the replies you have been given, the harsh ones I mean

It would be helpful however if you could give us ats folks a looksee at your idea in detail, if it holds credibility then I'm sure that many members will help forward your plan from all over the world.

Wolfie

[edit on 24/1/07 by Wolfie_UK]

I smell a hint of sarcasm in his post directed at the current ability of citizens of American to voice their opinions and suggestions at this monstrosity of democracy in America.

The current administration is to myopic in their own collusion of interests to care what little suggests may come there way. This my folk is an example of how democracy has created the illusion of a free thinking cooperation society, a society that recycles it's politicians decades over.

Good job.

Luxifero

Okay, HERE IT IS, my plan to fix Iraq. As previously mentioned, I've placed it in a seperate thread because the implications of the plan have more applicability than just Iraq.

Enjoy.

I'm sorry it took so long to post, it quite literally took days to put down on paper as well as find credible sources to back up each contention.

[edit on 1/25/2007 by thelibra]