I was asked last night how I'd bring peace to the Middle East.

[davsand]

I'm running for the Presidency in an online Sim. Last night, in debate, I was asked how I'd bring peace to the Middle East.

My response was viewed as weak--I simply said I have no idea how it can be accomplished given the generations of tension that exist in the ME.

My thinking at the time was that if it was that simple it would have been done by now by somebody. I know darn good and well that pulling all US interests out of the ME will never happen in my lifetime. I'm realistic enough to know that short of withdrawing all US involvement there is nothing that can be done to lessen the tensions there...

Help! The DUers are a mighty smart bunch of cookies and I'm looking to you guys to give me ideas for a workable foreign policy that will foster some sanity in an area that needs it desperately. I'm begging that this not degenerate into a flamewar or a slugfest--I need answers!

So who is feeling like they can solve a large chunk of the world's problems today?

Laura

[La_Serpiente]

1. I could solve probably a couple

But I couldn't solve the North Korean one...that one is just out of my league AND they actually have Weapons of Mass Destruction.

[kentuck]

2. We need a diplomatic effort to rid the Mideast of all WMDs....

including Israel's. But we need leadership to bring the leaders together. We will never have it with the great thinker now in the WH. And as candidate Dean said a few weeks ago, and was criticized for it, we have to not take sides if we want people to trust us in the negotiations. It is not impossible. However, more arms and more wars is surely not the solution. We cannot kill off the problem.

[lindashaw]

6. One thing I know...you can't have a Dallas Cowboy be a referee...

at a Cowboys' football game. We're in the game, because we're giving weapons and money to one side. So we need to recuse ourselves as mediator (like we want Ashcroft to because he has a vested interest in the outcome). I don't think that other unbiased countries would be any worse at mediating than we have been.

[Cat Atomic]

3. US economic policies in the region should be more like

those of Japan in Southeast Asia. That is to say, we should be more collaborative. Playing ball with the US should be beneficial to the population of the country we're doing business with. Right now, we install dictators to ensure a "free market", which really just means exploitable resources and labor.

And there needs to be a real (and contiguous) Palestinian state.

These things wouldn't bring peace and love to everyone, but it'd be a step in the right direction.

[LeahMira]

4. Mazel Tov on your nomination! :-)

Here is one proposal: http://www.tikkun.org/community/index.cfm/action/current_projects/article/10.html

I can't say that I support it 100% myself, but it's a place to start. Mainly, I hope the U.S. President and Congress stay out of taking sides in the whole dispute and support any United Nations resolutions, past and future.

[BurtWorm]

5. Yours is an unsatisfying answer because it opts out and accepts defeat.

Which isn't to say it isn't realistic--and it's certainly honest. But you were asked what you would do to bring peace, and nothing is not an option. You have to ask yourself what steps could realistically be taken to reduce the violence, at the very least, and to create a framework for solution, if not a solution itself. You should also ask yourself what the US responsibility really is in the Middle East, and justify all your thoughts about this to your voters.

[davsand]

9. I think you are correct with that assessment.

It sends a message that is defeatist. I think that several of you are correct when you tell me that the situation is not hopeless--and I certainly don't feel that it is.

I am formulating a policy based on several of this ideas presented here. I do thank you all for your help. I'll post a link to my statement when I get it posted.

Again, thanks.

Laura

[leesa]

7. The first and most easy answer is to treat ALL countries in the ME

impartially. No more billion dollar handouts to Israel. No more automatic vetos of UN Resolutions against Israel. No false propaganda against Muslim countries and Muslims in general. It's easy. Why did you make it sound so impossible???

[SlavesandBulldozers]

8. middle east peace plan

1)Globally decriminalize all drugs currently being sold for massive profits, profits inflated exponentially by prohibition status of narcotics and in particular - heroin, by the unregulated black market. The heroin trade and middle-eat terrorism are mutually exclusive. View the middle-east problem as a gang-war tinged with religious fervor. Historically, the only way the U.S. won it's war against the gangsters of the 20's was by going after the money. The way they went after the money was by decriminalizing the illicit product that the gangsters profited from. We would still have Capones in the US were alcohol still illegal. And if teddy bears were illegal there would be $500billion/yr illicit teddy bear trade. The middle east problem is exactly the same, no matter how many roadmaps are drawn up. Remove the legislation that ensures terrorists always have profits to rely on.

2)Do not re-elect George Bush, a man who does not understand that you cannot say "crusade" when referring to a war in the middle-east.

3)Create a UN hunger relief task force that will feed all the world's poorest children in 10 years.

4)Impose a UN peacekeeping force in the Palestinian hinterland, to accomidate a humanitarian aid package for the Palestinian people. Demand that Israel remove the wall being built or impose a halt to military aid.

5) Immediately terminate all political alliances with Saudi Arabia. Encourage purchasing from other oil markets by providing a tax break for all non-saudi oil purchased. Let the Saud family drink their oil.

[Yupster]

10. A modest proposal

Follow the Soviet example in Eastern Germany. Forcibly remove all the Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza. Change the place names to Israeli sounding names.

This worked for the Soviets after WWII. They completely emptied East Prussia, eastern Pomerania and Silesia of millions of Germans. Cities which were German for hundreds of years like Breslau, Konigsberg, Kolberg, Allenstein, Pillau, Elbing, Strehlen, Deutsch Kron and Ratibor had their names changed, and new people were settled into them, and there has been peace ever since.

Hey it worked for the Soviets and no one is yelling for them to give any land back.