Shouldn't we be having a world summit on the Iraq problem RIGHT NOW?

I think it's way past time to collect ourselves and start talking seriously with the world about post-Bush Iraq. I'm not sure what's going to happen there after we leave, but whatever happens we need to be prepared with enough world wide support to cancel out the Republics- Who will no doubt scream bloody murder at the mere ~thought~ of a world summit.

So, could the Dems get this going? Maybe we could convince Canada to host it and avoid the middle man.

...took an early vacation and won't be back in session until the end of August. Our troops are doing the BushCo surge on their own :wtf:

President is chosen....(he/she) should do a Reagan....(my how things come full circle)....negotiate with the rest of the world before * is out of office....and have a plan in place the first day of the new Administration....

That's a good start, but I think this dialog needs to be between the People and not just the politicians.

I was thinking this while driving home today. If the chimp cannot be evicted he must be bypassed. Of course the ranting and raving over Pelosi's trip is just a hint of what would happen if active govt officials did it.

I thought of Bill Clinton; the fact Hillary is running complicates that though.

If he were to make up his mind for sure NOT to run: Al Gore or Wes Clark

Carter might have been good 15 years ago, but I think it would be too much for him now. He could tag along though.


What I was thinking was to pick some reasonably uninvolved host nation - Switzerland? and get them to provide a facility and invite delegates from any and all nations. They would send official government representatives - ambassadors or whatever - to just talk. Maybe a lot of them would be former heads of state or high-ranking politicos. Take all the Baker/Hamilton data, plus updated info, and then brainstorm. Kind of a global think-tank. Be sure to persuade Saudis, Syrians, Iranians et al to participate. The US could send someone - or not. Don't set an agenda - at least initially. Just make it a collaborative effort to make some sort of sense of the madness.
They could invite the principals in the conflict to come "testify" as to their grievances.

Sometimes the best solutions come when you don't try to force it. But you need to enable it.

As an aside, why the hell doesn't the UN kick us out as a rogue state?

The UN is owned by the US...you witnessed that by how long it took to get Wolfowitz out even though he broke all of the rules..

The thought just popped into my head a few hours ago.

We need something big to mark this time, a turning point. Something a bit more optimistic and human than endless war and death.

I certainly don't think America should be excluded since the majority of Americans understand that we're a big part of the problem.

"the majority of Americans understand that we're a big part of the problem"

My guess: nope.

a goodly portion realize we've screwed the pooch

For all of the reaction that came out of that particular parlay, still there was widespread peace in Europe until 1848, the Crimean War and the Franco-Prussian. We shall skip the Danish-Prussian War, which defies description.
It all goes back to the Treaty of Sevres and the settling of Ottoman provincial claims with a strong "leadership" from Whitehall and Paris. So the French and Brits drew lines on maps, created countries and spheres of influence and we deal with it almost 100 years later.
The new Turkish government was, it appears, frankly glad to get out of Arab affairs. Does one blame them after what we've witnessed of late?
I think that we all ought to go back and re-read our Ottoman history and about the Peace. It might come in handy.
It appears that the Ottomans were largely able to have stayed on for as long as they did because they kept the local affairs in the hands of the locals, and there was a class of Ottomanized Arabs to rule in the provinces, since Stambul with its pleasures obviously was the place to be rather than Basra, Baghdad or Mosul!
But of course, the Ottomans had no qualms with decimating a troublesome population, be they Bulgarians or Armenians or Kurds.
We are not good at empire. As a matter of fact, we suck at it. The Phillipines were our best attempt for cultural imperialism, and then only after WW II and nominal independence for the Phillipines.
But of course, we still can't rationally discuss 1967 and the main actors are still largely in living memory if not actually alive!

Who would be a good advocate for this? A non-politician who could just go in and get it done? Wes Clark comes to my mind.