Four "radical" ideas for solving the I/P dispute and saving the world:

[hansolsen]

Fellow bloggers: I want to talk about the Arab / Israeli dispute and the root causes of Islamic fundamentalist attacks on Israel and America. Here are some assumptions I bring to the subject:

a. Bush's so called "war on terrorism" is making the world worse off, not better, and is increasing the risk of a major attack in America. Iraq is a mere distraction on one level, and a war to liberate Israel on another.

b. Osma bin Laden and other so called Islamic fundamentalist "terrorists" are attacking America in part for valid grievances, and unless we address those grievances, we can never make progress in the "war on terrorism."

c. Valid grievances, you say?? let me list a few things America supports that create grievances:

> Taking land in Palestine under the initial U.N mandate, but then refusing any just compensation, or right of return for refugees.
> Taking additional land in the interest of "settling" the Holy Lands and making Jerusalem the capital of Israel, i.e. the overall Likud plan for a "Greater Israel".
> Building a Wall or Fence that becomes a defacto border that is untenable.
> The support of dictators all over the middle east, who are allowed to own and profit from oil, at the expense of their own indigenous populations.
> The consumption of more than our fair share of all the world's resources, including especially, oil.
> The arrogant assumption that we can have weapons of mass destruction and Arabs cannot.

I could go on, but that is enough for openers.

d. I assume that some time in the next ten years the so called "Terrorists' will get their hands on usable nuclear weapons. They will most likely get them (existing, old models) on the black market rather than build them from scratch in a "rogue" state like Iraq or Iran. If they get them, they will use them, and a million Americans will die so that old Mullahs and old Priests and old Rabbis can dither to their heart's content over old books that were written by men long ago. I don't want that to happen. That is why I am here talking to you now.

e. If competent radicals try to smuggle ten nukes (broken down into component parts and reassembled in place) into the U.S. today, 9 out 10 would get in. After all the committees and legislation and tightening of borders and Homeland Security, after say 5 years of improved security, 8 out of 10 would still get in. Just my best guess. So static defense is worthless.

f. Wars of aggression to fight terrorism are also worthless. George Bush is proving that in spades every day. So what will work, you ask?

Bold, creative new ideas that have not been tried before, that are based on dealing with the fundamental root causes of Islamic terrorism, that is what will work. I have such ideas, and I assure you they are bold and radical.

Note: Please don't read too much into my having listed only "problems" on the Israeli side of the equation, and not the Palestinian side. I am aware that there are two sides to the dispute. The Israelis have valid grievances too, and I address these as well. But I am an American, and as far as I can tell, we have no valid grievances in this affair whatsoever. We only have responsibilities that go begging.

And as for 9/11, that is just the chickens coming home to roost. And there are a lot more chickens out there. 9/11 was tragic, unconscionable, and actionable, but also oh so predictable. So is the next one.



Fellow bloggers: The poets say that "fools go where angels dare not tread", and lord knows many have gone before me and tried their hand at solving the Arab / Israeli dispute. I assert that they all have failed, leaving room for another try. I propose we try things that have not been tried before, bold, radical things that are in fact new. Why not?

So here are four ideas. Let me introduce them.

The first one is intended simply to buy time -- to avoid the dreaded escalation to the use of WMD.

The second is intended to spread one of the great institutions of democracy without demanding that countries implement democracy. The hope is that democracy will follow of its own accord.

The third is intended to restore some fundamental fairness and equity to the situation on the ground in the middle east. This will do two things, IMO. It will put U.S. troops on the ground in Israel to help maintain the peace and enforce the original U.N. mandate establishing the state of Israel, and it will give Palestinians the best chance they have had to form a separate state they can be proud to call home.

The fourth is a call for universal sacrifice. It is time to tell the American people the truth -- there are immense costs associated with our policies in the world. We must step up to those costs now.

Are you ready? Here we go.

1. TWENTY FIRST CENTURY MUTUALLY ASSURED DESTRUCTION:

George Bush has said this is not a war on Islam. He might have better said this is not a war on Islam yet. Maybe John Kerry can say it for him. I urge him to announce the next Presidential Doctrine declaring that the use of weapons of mass destruction on American soil, if ever perpetrated by Arab fundamentalists, and if ever done in the name of Islam, will be met with war on Islam. What we need now is the twenty first century equivalent of "Mutually Assured Destruction." That policy during the Cold War, however grotesque in enunciation, had the sublime beauty of being effective on the ground. It concentrated the mind. We now need to concentrate the Arab mind.
Put this in effect by dispatching the Marines to deliver this Presidential doctrine to every city and village on the Arabian peninsula. Have them nail it to the door of every Mosque. Include the message that in the event of war, every Mosque and every Mullah will be declared an enemy command and control center, and dealt with as such.
Drop a billion leaflets on the Arabian peninsula announcing that if a weapon of mass destruction is deployed against America in the name of Islam, no man will stand in Mecca for a thousand years. Go on Arab television and say the same thing, and say it in a tone of voice so they know you mean it. And say it in such a way that you clearly mean no disrespect for Islam.

2. MAKE EVERY WORLDD JOURNALIST A U.S.. CITIZEN

Announce another, and even more important Presidential Doctrine. Declare every journalist in the world to henceforth be a United States citizen. Extend automatic dual citizenship to every journalist in every nation on every continent. Declare your intention to defend freedom of the press as a universal human right. Declare it your intention to protect these new citizens of democracy with the full force and might of American military power. Stand up and say it so they know you mean it.
Make it our business to know how every journalist in the world is treated. Make the spread of democracy the highest national priority, higher, for example, than trade, and GDP. Explain this new fact of life to our friends in international business. Explain it in a tone of voice that convinces them we won't forget our new doctrines in the morning. Threaten to sink a few of their ships on the high seas just for emphasis if they demur. Tell the CIA to stay out of the business of killing leaders we don't like and picking new leaders of our choice. Let democracy work its magic. Support universal freedom of the press and most importantly, be open to the outcome.
Immediately cease and desist from any further financial and moral support for authoritarian regimes in that region, or any other region for that matter. Announce that if regime changes on the Arabian peninsula disrupt the flow of oil, we will infer that to be a breach of legal contract and will then take whatever oil we need at a fair price. Smile when you say that.

3. RELOCATE TROOPS FROM IRAQ TO ISRAEL, AND ENFORCE the ORIGINAL U.N. MANDATE

Declare a ten year moratorium and cooling off period for the Arab / Israeli dispute. We cannot allow this protracted religious argument to cost a million American lives for nothing. This is no time for four eyed geeks in Foggy Bottom to dither away to their heart's content. This is no time for dithering. This is no time for timid politicians to bow and scrape to the Israeli lobby. This is no time for bowing and scraping. This is a time for bold action.
Stop sending blood money to Israel and Egypt. Instead send the U.S. Army to reestablish and defend the pre 1967 borders. Send the Army Corps of Engineers to bulldoze the Israeli settlements level with the sand, every one of them. Tell Yasser Arafat that if there is one more suicide bomber we will pick up every Palestinian on the West Bank and relocate them to the caves in Afghanistan.
Declare Jerusalem to be an open city administered by the United Nations. Declare that it will remain an open city for the rest of this Millennium. If the Rabbis and the Mullahs and the Priests complain bitterly and wave their musty old books in your face, round them up en mass and drop them in the Mediterranean sea.

4. IMPLEMENT A UNIVERSAL DRAFT FOR MILITARY AND PEACE CORPS

Tell the American people the hard truth. Tell them that their safety and security is now not only dependent on the Marine Corps, but also on the Peace Corps. Make it our highest national priority to make friends with the world, and by that I mean the people of the world, not the regimes of the world and not the religious nut cases of the world. The weed of terrorism can only thrive in an unplowed field. We must plow every field, sow it thick with democracy, and pray that God rains freedom on the world. In freedom lies our safety.
In support of this goal, ask American families to make a great personal sacrifice. Institute a universal national draft. Require all young American citizens to give two years of their lives to national service. Send them throughout the world to every town, hamlet, and field. Set them to work outside under God's blue sky. Let them feel the sun and the rain on their face every day. And let them spread democracy and freedom every evening over dinner and conversation. You have a unique opportunity, Mr. Kerry, to ask this nation for sacrifice, sacrifice in support of a great goal. Do not squander that opportunity; do not be afraid to ask. Do not let the moment pass. If not this, what?

[forgethell]

1. # 1 sounds OK.

the rest are poppycock. Espescially #3. that just will make targets of American troops. As for a universal draft, explain to me the difference between that and slavery, because I don't see it.

[hansolsen]

3. #3 done alone would be problematic, but stationing troops in Israel

would be accepted in the Arab world if it was accompanied by driving Zionist settlers back behind the original U.N. mandated borders of Israel. U.S. troops could enforce a fair and equitable peace agreement, where they can never enforce and unjust occupation of Palestinian land without compensation or recourse.

A universal draft is hardly slavery. And it is hardly a radical idea on its own. It only becomes "radical" because I am suggesting that most of the draftees not be run through military service, but through Peace Corps type service.

Making it cumpulsory and universal is not slavery, it is just a way of making national service fair.

[Darranar]

2. I think I've seen this somewhere before...

and on this second perusal, I find it just as ridiculous as it was before.

#1 is over the top: "See what those Muslims did? Let's kill them all!"

#2 is ridiculous. When violations of freedom of the press occur across the world, what is the US supposed to do? Nuke everyone?

And why does the US have the right to control the flow of oil from the Middle East?

#3 has a few good proposals, but complete ethnic cleansing for a single suicide bombing that may be unpreventable is completely unjustified. Dropping people in the sea for complaining would be rather disgusting. (Should the US then try to overthrow itself for trampling civil liberties and freedom of the press, or does #2 only apply to other nations?)

As for #4, not only is that a task far beyond the means of any nation in the world, but it seems to be trampling freedom to "defend freedom".

[hansolsen]

4. You've seen it before, because I posted it here before, and I'll keep

posting these ideas and other ideas I may have about solving this dispute. I believe this is the most critical issue facing America and could end up getting my grandchildren killed one of these days. As to you replys, thank you very much. I appreciate the dialog. Here is my reaction:

1. You misread and mischaracterize my suggestion. What you post is exactly what will happen if terrorists ever get their hands on a nuclear weapon and set it off in America. Can you imagine the reaction here then??

What I am trying to do is prevent that day ever arriving. I believe a new version of MAD could accomplish that. Now follow me:

First, under the original MAD not one person ever died, because it was an effective deterent. That is what we need now. I believe the theat of loss of Mecca and other religious centers would be a real deterent to religious radicals.

Second, The threat is directed at the physical structures, not at the Arab peoples. Does that make any more sense than what you first assumed??

2. No, but we could start with economic sanctions, we could deny membership in most favored nation status, we could stop trading with countries that do not allow freedom of the press, we could deny membership in the United Nations to countries that do not support freedom of the press, we could financially support legal efforts in those countries to free jailed reporters, and so on. In short I am advocating we do everything for world journalists that we would do for any U.S. citizen maltreated in a foreign nation.

Is this idea really so ridiculous, stripped of your jump to an immediate nuclear exchange??

As to the flow of oil from the middle east, I am simply saying we can always enforce the legal contracts now in force to buy and deliver oil at a certain price.

3. I don't follow where you read ethnic cleansing into my proposal?? As to dropping the clerics in the sea, I am being facetious -- give me a break here. I am old and senile and just looking for ways to make a rhetorical point. My point is we cannot let those who demand a literal interpretation of some old text to hold the whole world hostage. Dropping them in the sea is the least they deserve for all the trouble they cause. What would you do with them?

You see my solution outlined -- let the original U.N. mandate be the final authority on what happens, not the old texts. Doesn't that make sense??

4. Many nations have a universal requirement for national service, including Israel. What is so impractical about that. What if I said, let's radically enlarge the Peace Corpss. Would you be more comfortable with that??

Now hear me, lots of people have tried lots of things in this area for 2000 years. Here are some ideas that have not been tried yet. Are you sure you want to throw them out so lightly?? Thanks, hans

[undergroundrailroad]

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