Some Thoughts on the Situation in Iraq

In larger businesses, a new idea or a new product or service is often "piloted," or demonstrated before it is more widely accepted or promoted.

While the Iraqi people are said to be among the more well-educated and entrepreneurial in the Middle East, their experience of success on a large scale is quite limited. They are not convinced that the U.S. is willing or capable of facilitating the standard of living that could happen there.

Would it make sense from an internal as well as global perspective, to develop two or three communities within Iraq, outside the Sunni Triangle? Do everything right. Start by offering the locally elected councils a modern, well-organized and productive make-over in exchange for a freer hand in "law-enforcement" and other discipline. Concentrate some of that reconstruction money to be certain everything works. Re-build or construct from scratch. Get the word out that this is what is possible in a law and order society. Show it to the people of Iraq and interested foreign commercial investment sources.

It may even be possible to identify a community near Baghdad, in a relatively peaceful locale, and use it as one of the demonstration communities.

I understand that I don't know all there is to know about the issues involved. The situation does seem to afford an opportunity for some outside-the-box thinking.