The Iraqi problem seems to be that no one in Iraq wants to be an Iraqi.
The Sunnis used to run Iraq and they are hopping mad about being invaded – they aren’t clear about what they want but if they ended up with their own country they would have nothing to complain about.
Why not let them have their own nations? Why insist on pasting a constitution on them that is offensive to them and to the rest of the world. I think everyone will agree that a national constitution that enshrines allowing a man to have 4 wives is offensive. It’s offensive to everyone who believes in ‘one man, one woman’ as being a marriage and it is offensive to everyone that would like to have more than 4 wives.
It is a ridiculous proposition to have Great Britain and the United States impose a democracy based on common experiences between them that the Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites have never experienced.
Iraq was cobbled together from provinces that had been included in the Ottoman Empire when the British turned out to be victors in World War I. The British then treated Iraq as a province and strongly put down any hint of independence the people might have had. Winston Churchill even advised using gas against the rebels. That is, if you can call people fighting for independence from a brutal empire rebels.
The only reason the United States does not support independence for Kurdistan is because of interference from Turkey. The United States is afraid of Turkey. The Kurds are not. The United States is imposing its will on Kurdistan, Shiastan and Sunnistan because of a lack of understanding of the situation.
The backwoods boys from Texas are little interested in the realities in Iraq. They just want the oil.
Iran will be contained by a bunch of greedy and wealthy Kurds and Shiites and the United States can truly say that Iraq has been liberated and our troops can leave.
All it will need is a new name.
Iraq is dead. Long live the KSSA. Kurdish-Shia-Sunni Alliance.

OK,would The Fish and his/her ilk kindly present us with a solution to the middle east crisis,that keeps peace and the necessary oil flowing to the rest of the world.The US cannot just pull out of Iraq without leaving it with stable Govt.

Give us logical and practical solutions without this leftist diatribe of the US being the evil empire that is responsible for all the world's ills.

There has been recent controversy over a band which has been mentioned in several news items and numerous radio talkback shows, particularly on the ABC, which prompted me to investigate what the fuss was about. I read the lyrical content from the band killtv to find a song titled 'war machine'. The lyrics were spot on and it would be well worth your while getting a glimpse of how some of the younger people have perceived this current issue. www.killtv.com.au

Arjay,
The answer to your question” kindly present us with a solution to the middle east crisis, that keeps peace and the necessary oil flowing to the rest of the world.”, may be found in the second post (IE “The solution is "more diplomatic, more economic, more political than it is military," he concluded.")

This is something now being realised and stated by the Bush Administration and it’s military juggernaut.

There was also the possibility of using International Criminal Court. But this would be a bit tricky. The International Criminal Court can try those suspect of carrying out crimes against humanity, and there would be plenty of evidence of this being carried out by the Hussein regime. However there is the very real possibility that the war in Iraq has been an illegal war, and it has resulted in the deaths of many thousands of innocent civilians. Because of this, politicians such as Bush, Blair, Howard etc could also be tried for ordering an illegal war (which would be interesting).

In retrospect, it may have been better to try the Hussein regime in the International Criminal Court first (which I understand could have been done in the absence of accused), then invade Iraq after that if necessary.

But the war in Iraq should have been a last resort option after all other options had been tried, which I don’t think it was.

Timkins I agree with you that the Us should never have gone into Iraq.

The reality is here.The left blindly call for the immediate withdrawl of Coalition troops,but offer us no practical solutions.The UN is gutless corrupt and useless.Neither the likes of Saddam or Robert Mugabe would pay the slightest attention to any international court.They only understand the power of force.

What practical solutions do you have to keep the peace in The Middle East which owns 65% of the world's oil? Sure the US foreign policy has been flawed,and they conducted a war on false intelligence.The damage is done.What would you do next in terms of policy and practical actions?

If you insist on understanding the current situation in Iraq, then ask yourself this very bold question: do you really believe that the Iraqis today are better off than they were under Saddam? I have met many Iraqis who claim that their standard of living and their safety has been sorely compromised by the American occupation. Arjay, how would you feel if American troops stormed into Australia and "liberated" us so that our resources could be managed according to American needs, not Australian needs. This is in essence what has happened in Iraq, and the American military testsorone approach doesn't work in a society that is thousands of years old as opposed to a few hundred. Of course the United States, and the entire coalition should pull out of Iraq and leave the Iraqis to work out what they want in their own country - including what they choose to do with the oil.