Reality check:
Forrest wrote:
1) Surrender operations to an international body (the U.N., or some other coalition, preferably including other middle-eastern states either way).
Forget it. Bush screwed that option when he went unilateral. The EU, for one, is saying "we told you 'No' and we meant 'No'. Now you know why we said 'No'." Chirac(FR) and Schroeder(DE) both took a lot of shit from America for refusing to go along with the invasion. Do you remember the "Freedom Fries" thing? That wasn't the worst of it. American boycotts of EU business and tourism did a lot of economic damage over here.
I'm in Swiss Romande, Francophone country. While they have no great love for the French, they caught a bunch of the anti-French sentiment and the anti-french jokes too.
If you are thinking that Bush's last little junket healed things up over here, then you are delusional, as delusional as Bush is. The EU is fairly united in this, they don't like being called cowards because they refuse to be stupid.
In case you are wondering, the UK isn't really a part of Continental Europe, we just let them think they are. One sometimes humors the retarded
Forrest wrote:
2) Offer our full military backing for whatever their solution is.
That's not a convincer. For one thing, that requires trust and they don't quite trust the US anymore. Bush did a good job there as well.
Forrest wrote:
3) Suggest as a solution that we (the international community):
i) Allow the various Iraqi factions to form their own regional governments as they please (e.g. allow Kurdistan to secede if they like).
The Kurdistan issue will bring in Turkey so fast that it'll make your head spin. They will invade, period. They damned near did it anyway, while Bush was having his little tea party. Bush had to promise them that Iraq wouldn't be allowed to break up.
Forrest wrote:
ii) Offer defense again all foreign powers (incl. other parts of the state formally known as Iraq) to any faction that manages to establish domestic peace within their region. ("Domestic peace" also including just governance, so we don't end up helping despotic tyrants).
That does not resolve the ethical problem. The US broke the Iraqi egg. It is the US's responsibility to either make a nice omelette or repair the egg. It's the old 'you broke it, you own it!' principle.
Forrest wrote:
iii) Encourage diplomatic and trade relations between the various factions / states, possibly leading toward eventual reunification; and if not, no big deal.
So you would abandon the Iraqi people after turning their world into shit? Nice guy you are. This is why Amrican reputation suffers so.