This I Believe
Death squads and execution killings in Iraq must stop, and the perpetrators must be arrested and brought to justice. The wealth of the country, including oil, must be shared with the whole country, not just the area where the oil is located.
The US should put forth a plan on how to achieve the above. Creativity and negotiation must play a huge part. The Iraqi government, as currently constituted, probably cannot achieve this. So the US can suggest a plan that they would execute. Maybe give thousands of Iraqi civilians digital cameras with a date/time stamp on pictures so pictures of Iraqi police or Iraqi army personnel acting as a death squad can be caught on pictures. Then the pictures given to trusted US or Iraqi personnel, the perpetrators can then be identified and brought to justice. This would not be simple of course, but the right people brainstorming this issue should be able to come up with something.
Of course any plan must be presented to the higher Iraqi government officials with the statement, “This is one way we may be able to put an end to death squads. Do you want us to do it? Will you prosecute the offenders if we catch them?” If the government says the plan will not work, or we do not want you to do that, then they should be asked to give their own plan….within a week…not two or three months.
If we train Iraqi soldiers or police, without a plan in place to stop death squads and execution-style killings, we could easily be training killers and the violence will just stay the same or get worse. And the civilians will not trust the army or police, or cooperate with them.
Similarly, the US can suggest a plan for oil-sharing and wealth sharing for the whole country. If it cannot be revised or amended to meet the approval of the Iraqi government, then the government should be asked to put forth their own plan…. within a week. And the US can analyze it and see if they think it will work.
If the US and Iraqi government cannot come up with a feasible plan to stop death squads and to share the country’s wealth, the Iraqi government should be told the coalition forces are leaving….starting in a couple of weeks. And in a week, the announcement of the coalition departure will be made to the US, and the world. And why we are leaving: The coalition and the Iraqi government were unable to develop a plan to end death squads and to share the country’s wealth. And the coalition forces staying, and training police and army that will become death squads would not help the country.
These plans should be subjected to the quality criterion – PDCA. Plan, Do, Check, Act.
If the plan looks good, implement it. The check it (monitor the results). If the results are good, keep it going, but keep monitoring. If results are inadequate, revise the plan or develop a new plan and repeat the PDCA cycle.
Guard the valuable people. Make sure they don’t get killed.