Iraq, The Issues from Unity08

This morning I got an e-mail from Unity 08. Unity 08 (www.unity08.com) is a new online third political party. Their purpose is to bring the political discussion back to the center, reasoning that the two major parties are catering to the issues at the extreme. I believe this is true, so I signed up to be a delegate and I sincerely hope that we get candidates on the ballot. (If you're curious as to how we intend to do that, why don't you visit the site.)

A week or so ago, they asked delegates to send in questions that Unity08 could ask the candidates. These questions were suppose to reflect what the center of the political mass is thinking about. After accumulating these questions, they asked the delegates to rate the questions as to which we thought were most important. We were asked to rate the questions on a 1-5 basis with the additional options of ranking the questions as "Inappropriate" or "Off the Subject".

How many ways can you ask the question, "How would you as President bring our troops home from Iraq?" You wouldn't believe it. After I ranked about fifty or sixty of them I was itching for a button that was labeled "repetitive". However, there was enough difference, and hopefully the vetting process will wino it down to the essentials. I think the following covers it.

• How are you going to get the troops home?
• When?
• What are you going to do to prevent chaos when we leave?
• What do we owe Iraq in the future?
• Can we or should we separate Afghanistan from the Iraq problem?

Most of the other questions were a rehash of the arguments we've heard for months and were more a condemnation of the administration than substantive questions. Not that the administration doesn't deserve it, but I think most of us are now of the mind that like it or not, right or wrong, we can't just forget Iraq happened. We have to deal with it. Asking a candidate for President of the United States how he or she plans to deal with this problem is legitimate. I would say critical.


However, as I have mentioned in this blog before and I still believe, the most important question is, "What is your policy in the Middle East?" This is not a thirty second sound bite answer. It will take a thoughtful and patient audience to hear out the answer, mull it over and decide on it's merits. It is not the only foreign policy issue that is important. Our relations with the Pacific Rim, South America and Eastern Europe are critical. Our relations with our traditional Allies has been severely damaged and we will being walking around that issue for many years to come.

But there is no doubt the actions of the past five years have drawn us into an immediate and dangerous position in the Middle East. The answer here must include first an answer to the Palestinian question. if this issue is dealt with as we disengage from Iraq, we may buy back or credibility and become the broker of peace we want to be and should be.