List some ideas that need to happen to help the rebuilding process in Iraq.
Do not list ANYTHING about our government, just Direct Actions that need to happen IN Iraq.

Basically act as if YOU are the President. What would you do RIGHT NOW...

Do NOT list things that we Should have done or past issues we Can't do anything about now.
:thumbup: :thumbup:

Be sure to list the following information as well:
<Aprox. Cost of Equipment, Personel, Supplies to carry out your action
<Amount of time each action will take
<Whom we will have to get support from in Iraq
<Whom we will have to get support from in other Countries
<How much we will have to trade, give, or buy to get that support
<How it will effect other countries, Friends and Foes.
<What efforts you will have to put on hold to support this effort.

Don't give an Answer unless you can support it with information as to why

The entire content of your post avoids the key issues in rebuilding Iraq. This was likely the same thinking the Administration had, which resulted in the mess we have today. Before we talk logistics in terms of politics and economics, we need to rebuild something else in Iraq: TRUST. We don't have the trust of the Iraqis, period. They don't trust us. As long as they don't trust us, nothing that you can do for them will mean anything until the last of the US ships leave Iraq. This thinking is evident in the massive riots yesterday that resulted in dead protestors gunned down by US troops. The Iraqi police force is corrupt. They are taking bribes for jobs because the country is starving for jobs. Along with that, the Iraqi police aren't getting paid regularly so they have to find alternative means of income. So the question now, how do we gain their trust?

Our first goal should have been securing electricity, water, health care, and order. We should have brought not an army of occupiers, but an army of engineers to revitalize and modernize the electrical grid and restore power across the country. What Baghdad really needs is a nuclear power plant so they don't keep burning fossil fuels for power. If they are going to be our model pro-Western democracy, then a nuclear power plant is a good investment for us, especially when we want their oil.

We should have provided adequate health care for Iraqis mortally wounded during our war and afterwards in the chaos of rape and robbery. Many many Iraqis died because hospitals in Iraq were never replentished with sterilized medical supplies and medicine. When these people die, their family members blame us for their deaths. We lose trust.

Water treatment and sewage management is also a key in development. Iraq is a desert if you didn't already know. The heat there ranges from 100-120 degrees during the day. How miserable would you be sitting in that heat all day with no air conditioning and no water? Now how appreciative would you be if the US Army came in and gave you cold water bottles while they installed plumbing on your street? It never happened.

And of course our security and order should not be established alone as US police officers. We should have allowed the UN to step in, a willing UN to step in, a UN that saw the crisis and was ready to help. We should have let them in unconditionally instead of mandating terms upon their entry so that they would back out. When we have blue-helmet UN peacekeepers in Iraq, the violence and attacks against the US occupiers will subside. So far US "police" troops are a popular enemy for all of the above solutions that have not yet happened.

If you weren't aware, most of our effort go into securing the oil pipelines that keep getting blown up because Iraqis realize all the rebuilding effort is going into launching up the oil machine. The oil priority should stop, for now at least. We will never gain the confidence of Iraqis as long as we are ferverously pumping oil out of the country in the background of a chaotic countryside. We also need to take measures to secure the borders from neighboring insurgents. Iranians, Syrians, Saudis, and Egyptians would all love to come into this shooting gallery and pick off 'American infidels'.

That's my solution, that's the only thing I think will work.

Originally posted by lex400sc
The entire content of your post avoids the key issues in rebuilding Iraq. This was likely the same thinking the Administration had, which resulted in the mess we have today. Before we talk logistics in terms of politics and economics, we need to rebuild something else in Iraq: TRUST. We don't have the trust of the Iraqis, period. They don't trust us. As long as they don't trust us, nothing that you can do for them will mean anything until the last of the US ships leave Iraq. This thinking is evident in the massive riots yesterday that resulted in dead protestors gunned down by US troops. The Iraqi police force is corrupt. They are taking bribes for jobs because the country is starving for jobs. Along with that, the Iraqi police aren't getting paid regularly so they have to find alternative means of income. So the question now, how do we gain their trust?

Trust? Good point. A close friend of mine (also a Capt in the Army) just got back. He said that "Before, During, and After the war ALL YOU WOULD SEE ON TV is that the US forces were coming to kill all their women and children, how do you build that trust? Help me out here, explain what you can do and STOP explaining the problems only.

Our first goal should have been securing electricity, water, health care, and order. We should have brought not an army of occupiers, but an army of engineers to revitalize and modernize the electrical grid and restore power across the country. What Baghdad really needs is a nuclear power plant so they don't keep burning fossil fuels for power. If they are going to be our model pro-Western democracy, then a nuclear power plant is a good investment for us, especially when we want their oil.

How negative can you get? Keep it up.. Wow you ignored ONE KEY POINT. YOU ARE STILL TALKING IN PAST TENSE!!!!!! What Can You DO NOW

We should have provided adequate health care for Iraqis mortally wounded during our war and afterwards in the chaos of rape and robbery. Many many Iraqis died because hospitals in Iraq were never replentished with sterilized medical supplies and medicine. When these people die, their family members blame us for their deaths. We lose trust.

I can't even respond to the rest of this crap.. I'm sorry if this offends you, but it is pure crap.. You WILL NOT EVEN TRY to follow the topic.. Its easy to look BACK and say what we should have done, WHY DON'T YOU TELL US WHEN NEES TO HAPPEN THERE...

Water treatment and sewage management is also a key in development. Iraq is a desert if you didn't already know. The heat there ranges from 100-120 degrees during the day. How miserable would you be sitting in that heat all day with no air conditioning and no water? Now how appreciative would you be if the US Army came in and gave you cold water bottles while they installed plumbing on your street? It never happened.

And of course our security and order should not be established alone as US police officers. We should have allowed the UN to step in, a willing UN to step in, a UN that saw the crisis and was ready to help. We should have let them in unconditionally instead of mandating terms upon their entry so that they would back out. When we have blue-helmet UN peacekeepers in Iraq, the violence and attacks against the US occupiers will subside. So far US "police" troops are a popular enemy for all of the above solutions that have not yet happened.

If you weren't aware, most of our effort go into securing the oil pipelines that keep getting blown up because Iraqis realize all the rebuilding effort is going into launching up the oil machine. The oil priority should stop, for now at least. We will never gain the confidence of Iraqis as long as we are ferverously pumping oil out of the country in the background of a chaotic countryside. We also need to take measures to secure the borders from neighboring insurgents. Iranians, Syrians, Saudis, and Egyptians would all love to come into this shooting gallery and pick off 'American infidels'.

That's my solution, that's the only thing I think will work.

Do me a favor and learn how to quote people traditionally. There's a reason why vBulletin created "quote" tags. Don't be lazy. It really is offensive for me to see your writing mixed in with mine.

Originally posted by SCLexus3.0
Trust? Good point. A close friend of mine (also a Capt in the Army) just got back. He said that "Before, During, and After the war ALL YOU WOULD SEE ON TV is that the US forces were coming to kill all their women and children, how do you build that trust? Help me out here, explain what you can do and STOP explaining the problems only.

That's such BS garbage. That popular myth was dispelled the moment we became occupiers and no women and children were killed. Do you really think Iraqis are that freaking gullible? Give them more credit than that, christ...

Originally posted by SCLexus3.0
How negative can you get? Keep it up.. Wow you ignored ONE KEY POINT. YOU ARE STILL TALKING IN PAST TENSE!!!!!! What Can You DO NOW[/B]

You are unbelievable... Try for second to ignore the details and realize a solution for what it is. Did I not state in the beginning that trust was the biggest issue with Iraqis? Why is that? Because the "shoulds" never came to fruition. How can you solve the problem without addressing it first? You and Bush sure do think alike :rolleyes:

Originally posted by SCLexus3.0
I can't even respond to the rest of this crap..

That's right, you really can't respond to it. Because you don't have the self-control or attention span to do so maturely. So next time you say "I can't even respond to the rest of this crap..", you should just stop there instead of wasting everyone else's time.

Originally posted by SCLexus3.0
I'm sorry if this offends you, but it is pure crap.. You WILL NOT EVEN TRY to follow the topic.. Its easy to look BACK and say what we should have done, WHY DON'T YOU TELL US WHEN NEES TO HAPPEN THERE...[/B]

Rudeness is the first refuge for the incompotent.


Where's your solution? Drop legos on them? :rolleyes:

Originally posted by lex400sc
Do me a favor and learn how to quote people traditionally. There's a reason why vBulletin created "quote" tags. Don't be lazy. It really is offensive for me to see your writing mixed in with mine.


Originally posted by lex400sc

That's such BS garbage. That popular myth was dispelled the moment we became occupiers and no women and children were killed. Do you really think Iraqis are that freaking gullible? Give them more credit than that, christ...


You tell our soldiers that its BS.. He said the only things the Iraqi people even knew how to say in english were "Give Food" and "Money Please"... They sure understood that we were taking over their country and coming to kill their children. You don't even have room to talk unless you have spoken to the troops coming back. I have the fortune of knowing dozens of our soldier (Army and Air Force) coming back. You think this war is ALL POLITICAL... but guess what, there are REAL men being killed over there.
Stop your liberal hatement towards EVERYTHING Bush for just a minute and understand what is being done.

Originally posted by lex400sc

You are unbelievable... Try for second to ignore the details and realize a solution for what it is. Did I not state in the beginning that trust was the biggest issue with Iraqis? Why is that? Because the "shoulds" never came to fruition. How can you solve the problem without addressing it first? You and Bush sure do think alike :rolleyes:

We know the problems we are facing... But if you are so freakin smart, come up with an answer..
I can think of 10 dozen things we could have done different.

Originally posted by lex400sc

That's right, you really can't respond to it. Because you don't have the self-control or attention span to do so maturely. So next time you say "I can't even respond to the rest of this crap..", you should just stop there instead of wasting everyone else's time.

The only person's time I'm waising is my own trying to talk to you. If it deals with "Support Our Troops", "Thats a good idea Bush", or "I hope we make it through this war and win" You will bash it..

Originally posted by lex400sc

Rudeness is the first refuge for the incompotent.

So STOP BEING RUDE ALL THE TIME. You'll be a much smarter person then.

Originally posted by lex400sc

Where's your solution? Drop legos on them? :rolleyes:
Still an Idea... Give them the Blocks to Rebuild:D

We need to restore law and order (U.N. troops and money to train & pay Iraqi cops and military). This first step needs to be accomplished so the following steps can be effectively handled.

Establish/repair basic services, such as hospitals, clean water, electricity, gas (cooking gas and auto fuel), sewage treatment, etc. There is progress going on in these areas, it's just unfortunate that we don't hear about it in the news. I think a bi-weekly news report on the staus of the rebuilding process would be informative.

Originally posted by SCLexus3.0
You tell our soldiers that its BS.. He said the only things the Iraqi people even knew how to say in english were "Give Food" and "Money Please"... They sure understood that we were taking over their country and coming to kill their children.

Do you think that Iraqis who honestly believe we are there to kill them are going to ask the first American soldier they see "Give food" Money please"? If you were confronted with a killer, are those the first words you would say?

Originally posted by SCLexus3.0
You don't even have room to talk unless you have spoken to the troops coming back. I have the fortune of knowing dozens of our soldier (Army and Air Force) coming back.

I guess I would have room to talk then. I have two cousins in Iraq right now, and three buddies in Afghanistan. I don't here much from the cousins other than my oldest cousin who is a West Point Army officer says he made a few friends with Iraqi kids. I do get some news on Afghanistan fighting from time to time also, mostly about firefights.

Originally posted by SCLexus3.0
You think this war is ALL POLITICAL... but guess what, there are REAL men being killed over there.
Stop your liberal hatement towards EVERYTHING Bush for just a minute and understand what is being done.

It is all political. Name one war in the history of mankind that wasn't political. All wars are political and all wars involve human death. It is precisely the dead humans that concern and outrage me: the fact that slimy politics was weighed against human life, and the outcome was the Iraq War.

Originally posted by SCLexus3.0
We know the problems we are facing... But if you are so freakin smart, come up with an answer..
I can think of 10 dozen things we could have done different.

It really is disappointing that I have to tell you this, but I already did. Read my first post. Hint: restore electricity, water, health care, security. And BTW, I never claimed to be "so smart", that is my solution to the problem, not to say it or any others will work.


Originally posted by SCLexus3.0
The only person's time I'm waising is my own trying to talk to you. If it deals with "Support Our Troops", "Thats a good idea Bush", or "I hope we make it through this war and win" You will bash it..

That is your own personal interpretation, not the truth.


Originally posted by SCLexus3.0
So STOP BEING RUDE ALL THE TIME. You'll be a much smarter person then.

Before you judge my rudeness, you should reread the words I quoted you saying when I made that "rudeness-refuge" remark.


In the likely event that you don't believe me, here is my cousin in Iraq (plenty more where that came from)....

The first things I feel we need to do is:

Rebuild the Police Force by establishing new laws that regulations that the Iraqi peoples decide on and have been approved by the U.S. and Iraqi Leaders to be.
*Develop a VERY strict chain of command ran buy Iraqi Polive officers but enforced and suporvised by U.S.
*Make sure the new police officers agree with the laws before you give them the ability to enforce the laws.
*Build new police stations and substations throughout Iraq
*Create a department of internal investigations to monitor the police
*Offer benefits to citizens that rat out bad cops and other officials that are breaking the new laws.

Offer benefits that would great exceed what they are currently getting so long as they can prove they are doing a good job and enforcing the policy in place well.

Develop an entire Iraq Utilities Department that will have to sole job of planning and rebuilding the infrastructure of Iraq in stages and sectioning off areas of the country to different divisions.
*Develop 4 branches of this department: Water, Sewage, Power, and Communications. Give them each a NEW budget to work with and allow them to have input on new ideas as too how the rebuilding show go.

Offer people who help rebuild, police, maintain and keep order HUGE benefits, such as a new house or more living supplies.

Offer Iraqi's a policy called "Weapons for Food Program". Under this program they would receive a small amount of food for every weapon they turn in.

Develop a "Credit" system.
*Instead of money, Iraqis would receive Credits that can be exchanged for Food, Clothes, and other living supplies.
*They can even be used to pay for utilities and other needs. They should be issued out to working people and people who do great things.


Build a new community section of town (or right outside of town) with new homes or townhouses, new utilities, new cars, and other items and offer them to certain citizens that to extraordinary things to help Iraq rebuild and recover.
*This community would have to be very secure, and able to support around 50,000 people.
*They would only be able to live there for 6mnth -1 year terms dependent on what they did and how much they are still doing to help. Then they would have to move or they will be given the option to purchase the unit at a discounted price or use credits they have earned to purchase against the units.

The way to earn Iraqis trust is to allow them to rebuild themselves with help. The need to learn how to help themselves. We can help give them the tools and the road map to start this process.



:thumbup:

I think this thread is a waste of time. All the things being suggested are already being done.

Originally posted by bitkahuna
I think this thread is a waste of time. All the things being suggested are already being done.

Its not a waste of time, if your posting on this forum period its not waste of time (unless you have something better to be doing) and Because of this suggestion this thread was posted.

Originally posted by DaveGS4
Why don't you and other folks start more threads talking about how we can complete the effort and support our troops?

Whether we approve of the activities of our government or not, we are where we are in terms of Iraq, our economy, etc.

How about a bit of positive brainstorming about how to make the future better instead of complaining about decisions in the past or the situation we're in? I've got an open challenge for anyone posting in this forum... how about accompanying any negative discussions with some specific and implementable ideas on how to make it better given the current situation?

Quite frankly, I wouldn't re-build jack shiat. 87 billion is a lil number. Can u say 200 billion

We should follow the EU model: Private enterprise goes into member states and restores infrastructure and local economy, not government.

Originally posted by 1SICKLEX
Quite frankly, I wouldn't re-build jack shiat. 87 billion is a lil number. Can u say 200 billion

Yeah and 20 Billion is going to help restore Iraq, the other 67 billion is going where? To set up a nice brand spanking new military base in Iraq, no need for Saudi Arabi or Qatar anymore! Check out this opinion piece! (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ideas_opinions/story/125887p-112833c.html)

That article brought up many very good points that I had not considered. I'm beginning to see how Iraq is valuable to the United States in many other ways. No need to have bases in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Turkey, etc. Just build a huge one in Iraq and we can say "To hell with all you other Arab countries. From here on out, we do what we want in your backyard, and when we want to". We will create in Iraq a secondary Israel: a center of power in a region we are bound in endless conflict with. A staging ground, but for what...?