I’m reminded of the children’s books, Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel. In one of them about growing plants, Frog decides he’s going to force his seeds to grow faster. The story leads him to the realization that he needs to be sure they have sun and water and good soil, and they will grow on their own. Bush II, Vice President Cheney, and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice could all use this lesson; they seem to think that will, force and determination are all you need in the garden.

This administration keeps saying that the Iraqis must “want success” and have the “resolve to get the job done.” Iraqis “must be willing,” “must step up to the plate and be willing to advance a nationalistic agenda.” “If they are not willing to take these steps (the ones we define and order), we can’t do it for them.” This administration continues to assume that you just have to have the will to do something, the will to use force to get your way, and the resolve to keep at it, and success will follow. So they pressure, push, and lecture the Iraqis. It will not work. A good gardner has to know and pay attention to the soil, amending it as necessary. A good gardner has to plant seeds, and feed and water the seedlings. A good gardener keeps the weeds out without calling in a bulldozer. A good gardner does not pull on the seedlings to help them grow. Iraq is a problem. The Bush II administration’s approach to the problem is itself a problem. There are solutions…

PROBLEM

1. Paternalistic lectures are insulting and hypocritical. Even children do not receive them well. Why would adult Iraqis respond well to lectures about securing their borders by an administration that has been unable to secure ours? There are more respectful and effective ways to speak to anyone of any age over contentious issues. This administration has demonstrated over and over again, that they are absolutely clueless about effective communication, negotiation and problem solving.

2. We helped create an enormous mess; we are part of the problem. Our leadership must model how peers respectfully work toward a common goal. Currently they model figuring out solutions within a closely held circle of confidants loyal to a single point of view, telling everyone else what the ‘right’ path is, and then using “all strategies on the table” to force everyone into going along with their position. When you hit children to make them stop hitting, you get adults who hit to get what they want. When the U.S. uses widespread “shock and awe” bombing to solve a problem and accepts some “untidy” chaos in its wake, we must expect that this strategy that we model will be copied in our wake.

If disrespectful, poorly skilled, inarticulate, violence/military prone leadership is the best we can muster, why would we expect the Iraqis to do better?

SOLUTIONS

1. New leadership. The Bush II administration daily demonstrates that they are clueless about constructive problem solving and conflict resolution strategies. They are not only disastrously ineffective, they have been willing to break US and international law to get what they want, putting our Nation in jeopardy. Several people have written books and legal briefs on the solid evidential justification for impeachment; there is more than enough evidence to take swift action. Given the evidence and the clear and present danger, Congress is required by our Constitution to impeach. Congress must stop acting like a battered wife and get out of this relationship for the sake of the Nation.

2. Model, facilitate, train problem-solving and conflict resolution in Iraq. Find every Arabic speaker on the planet who is a trained and experienced mediator/ negotiator/ facilitator and get them to Iraq. Put some money behind an effort to train community mediators. We are borrowing to spend the future fortunes of our children to train Iraqi warriors (calling them army or police). We have spent nothing on training the Iraqis how to identify issues and stakeholders, listen for understanding, and to work toward solutions that address everyone’s issues. (An important acknowledgement to our own struggling military leaders on the ground. They are often asked, without training, experience, cultural knowledge or language skills to guide the people in small Iraqi communities toward effective outcomes. Some of them succeed on the strength of their goodwill. However, circumstances inevitably erode their efforts when there is no systemic backup for nonmilitary solutions to conflicts.)

3. Model, facilitate, train problem-solving and conflict resolution with global stakeholders It is woefully inadequate to let fate and others determine whether we communicate with Iran and Syria. These countries are vital stakeholders in Middle East peace. You do not have to agree with or approve of people to facilitate effective negotiations, conflict resolution and problem solving. The Bush II administration keeps repeating that WHEN the Iranians do our bidding and shut down their nuclear industry, THEN we will sit down with them to discuss their nuclear industry. They keep saying that WHEN the Syrians secure their borders with Iraq, THEN we will sit down with them to discuss secure borders. This is clueless, inept, dangerous and no way to lead toward peace.

Congress must find a way to put our trained, experienced, expert mediators/ negotiators/ conflict resolution facilitators on duty. This administration consistently picks cronies regardless of competencies for every appointment–appearing genuinely unable to see the value of competence over loyalty (…an early stage of human moral development…) It is important for Congress to insist on competent people at the helm. It is important for Congress to assure that there is funding for a team of Arabic/Turkish speaking mediator/negotiators and funding for venues to expand this team through training locals, and to provide a venue and structure for pulling all the interested parties together for resolving this crisis.

A safe and secure world, peaceful and economically prosperous countries, secure borders, human dignity and human rights are international issues. Why not respectfully pull together a group of people from many countries, representing all stakeholders, and using professional facilitators, spend a few weeks on problem-solving the issue of Iraq.

(Quotes in the second paragraph are from Rice on Charlie Rose, 5/7/07…although the words are boilerplate GOP talking points)