Like most everyone, I have serious doubts about such a heavy American presence in Iraq. When the war started, I could be heard telling anyone who would listen that it sure looked to me like it was going to be a Viet Nam in the desert. I didn't see any way we could "win." I really still don't, though I do, of course, care for our troops and pray for them and want them to stay safe and come home whole in body, mind, and spirit. Like many of you, I have family over there, and she's even headed back for a second deployment as I write this.
And I've been thinking. I keep reading how most of the suicide bombers don't really do it because they have a deep belief we are godless infidels who deserve to die, but rather because Al-Qaeda pays their family several hundred dollars, which is enough for them to live on for nearly half a year.
So it seems to me that what the insurgency boils down to is not necessarily idealism, but economics.
I know that's a horrible oversimplification, but it sparked this idea: with what we're spending on the war, wouldn't it be cheaper to just give every family in the region twice what Al-Qaeda pays? That might even buy us six months of relative tranquility (with a lot fewer deaths all around) and the Iraqi government could concentrate on getting their feet on solid ground.
Just musing here, folks, just musing.....
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