The Free View-- weblog of a presidential candidate

Yes, I would stop the war right now

I just posted something at PeoplesForum.com, and I'm going to go out on a limb and post it here. There's a pretty active and intelligent politics thread there, and one of the posters just posted a message asking if the peace protestors really would want the war in Iraq to stop right now. You can read the whole message here (you may need to sign up for PeoplesForum.com to do it -- it's free and easy). What follows is the relevant excerpt from his message, followed by my reply.

C'mon, Lance...you're the President. You can stop this war right now by lifting your finger. Or you can do your best to see it to a quick victory. Whatcha gonna do? I know what your answer will be, "If I were President this war wouldn't have started in the first place," but it's too late for that now, once the fight's started you either run away or duke it out.

My answer would not be as you said. My answer is that I would stop the war right now. I do not believe this war is going to bring a positive result, and I don't think going further along into a monstrous future-damning mistake just because it's already been made is wise foreign policy, or any other kind of policy. I'd rather stop when there is a slim chance of repairing the situation then decide I need to stop way later, when it's all the more infeasible.

I would withdraw the troops, spend several billion dollars in settlement payments to those who've suffered from it, issue an apology to the world and its people, vigorously campaign for rigid ethics-based economic control of the world's oppressive regimes, and spend the rest of my term working to erase the myth and the reality of U.S. imperialism. I would say "85 years of Anglo-American governmental manipulation of the peoples and nations of the Middle East ends today." I would send open letters out to all anti-American terrorist organizations to the same effect, emphasizing that this is not a concession to their immoral tactics, but simply the way I wish it had been all along. I would issue an unequivocal, firm, and heartfelt apology for every wrong thing the U.S. government has done that I can compile (not to the terrorists -- to the world and those affected by those wrongs.)

World opinion and credibility of the U.S. would turn around in short order, and would continue to rise with each passing week. I would work to send out tens thousands of private "people diplomats" and "economic diplomats" to all the corners of the globe to establish our place in the world's heart as a benign, compassionate, and generous people who are interested in peaceful prosperity. I would relentlessly pound the pulpit for private international aid and cooperation, using our recent international conflicts as the poster child for why we all need to better understand the peoples and the forces in the world. I would hold global town hall meetings. I would get together with an Arab pop superstar and do a video version of "Don't Call Me Raghead, Yankee". I would be out in the streets of different countries constantly, doing informal "Around the World with Lance" documentary tours of places which are only stereotypes for most Americans. I would bring back tons of cool stuff from there and hold a press conference upon my return discussing the items that can be found there, their customs, etc. I'd work in rice paddies in China, and sweatshops in Malaysia, and oil rigs in Russia, and cheese shops in France, and so on. I would arrange town hall meetings between towns in America and towns around the globe. I would tell all the U.S. Embassadors to do the same thing. I would make it a short-term mission to replace (and then some) U.S. government aid with private aid and economic growth.

And some other stuff probably. Heading as quickly and smoothly as possible toward "Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations -- entangling alliances with none." And encouraging other nations to adopt a similar outlook.

And in case I haven't given you enough fodder for critique, I would offer 25 (or maybe 50 or 100, I'm not sure what's reasonable) billion dollars to the first company that could develop a proven working missile defense shield, and then offer the technology and the equipment for it to every country on earth for the cost of materials. I would encourage a world scholarship fund for nations that could not afford such a defense system.

Oh, and if I were President, this war wouldn't have started in the first place.

As it is now, I'm beginning to factor in a massive amount of world touring for myself between now and 2008, trying to develop clean relationships with people in as many countries as I can going into the race. Offering the world a different kind of America.

Note: I just posted an addendum message that says this:

It's worth saying that I would also be touring around the U.S. during all that stuff above, working to explain to Americans why we need a major change in our foreign policy (and why I pulled us out of the war).