this was requested on another topic. but i think the idea has enough merit to warrent it's own topic... don't you think? all these war topics. not enough peace topics these days. not that any of this matters, seeing as how it's to late anyway, but maybe us peace people might have some RATIONAL suggestions (i guess us peaceies just assumed it was obvious to the world). so i guess people need it spelled out for them. i urge you guys to at least try to come up with one thing after reading this. heres what i think (as if it matters):

*send in hundreds of UN inspectors, whom have complete freedom to search where ever they want. (if they can't find weapons, what makes people so sure that a military is going to find them???)

*Assemble an international peace coalition, backed completely by the UN, to go into iraq and bring food, supplies, medicine, literature, computers(?), teachers, etc, etc. (if the iraqis don't care or know about democracy, what makes BUSH think he is going to force it on them?)

*Start a UN\Iraq alliant newspaper, with the iraqi people. maybe if we had a first hand correspondence with the people there we could have a better idea of the experience and situation in general. and maybe the exposure will gain more of a union between all countries about what to do in regards to suddam.

*send in the boondock saints.

and if these UN people ever get shot or assasinated, it at least will be clear to the entire world whose really in it for peace and stability. and then the UN might actually back a war! maybe it's ALLLLL been done before, and war realllllly is the only option left. at least us peaceies would be able to sleep knowing, "hey. we tried."

Not to be rude Sinope, but if you think that Saddam would let inspectors in at all without the threat of force you are living in fantasy land. Saddam wouldn't let inspecotrs in 1998, and Clinton bombed him (without UN or congressional approval and while killing many more than Bush has might I add). Now when Saddam refused to let inspectors in, indicating he had weapons he was hiding (why else wouldn't he let them in), we had no choice but to attack. Plus Saddam funds Palestinian terrorists every year, so this ties into the anti-terrorist policies of our government. But lets deconstruct what you said:

"*send in hundreds of UN inspectors, whom have complete freedom to search where ever they want. (if they can't find weapons, what makes people so sure that a military is going to find them???)"

They tried, Sinope. Saddam wouldn't comply to the inspectors unless someone literally shoved a gun to his face. The reason that couldn't find bio- weapons was quite simple: Saddam wouldn't show them to them, and when he did allow them to an area it was free of weapons already. The UN should have put pressure on Saddam to do this by threatening it with military action, but it instead backed down to the french and the other appeasers. Not to mention the sweet oil and weapons deals the russians and french already had (something that the left often ignores).

"*Assemble an international peace coalition, backed completely by the UN, to go into iraq and bring food, supplies, medicine, literature, computers(?), teachers, etc, etc. (if the iraqis don't care or know about democracy, what makes BUSH think he is going to force it on them?)"

Sorry, not an option. The US tried to gather a UN led collation, but that failed because again the UN is incompetent and corrupt. The Iraqis do care about democracy and freedom, its just that Saddam simply has held them hostage under his realpolitik totalitarian state since 1979. Don't believe me when I say that? Go ask the people in Basrah, or the cab drivers in Baghdad who have been interviewed. Or the man who said to one of the collation troops "you're late, what took you so long". Anyway, do you watch the news? Saddam has democracy, he just happens to have one where police men stand outside and go kill you if you don't vote for him.

"*Start a UN\Iraq alliant newspaper, with the iraqi people. maybe if we had a first hand correspondence with the people there we could have a better idea of the experience and situation in general. and maybe the exposure will gain more of a union between all countries about what to do in regards to suddam."

Saddam never under any circumstances allows real free speech. He has his ministry of information lie to the reportors and spread disinformation about anything related to the government. Saddam has a stalin-inspired dictatorship in his country, something straight out of 1984. Anyway, what good would interviewing Iraqis do if the next day they "disappeared"?

"*send in the boondock saints."

"and if these UN people ever get shot or assasinated, it at least will be clear to the entire world whose really in it for peace and stability. and then the UN might actually back a war! maybe it's ALLLLL been done before, and war realllllly is the only option left. at least us peaceies would be able to sleep knowing, "hey. we tried."

No, it won't. Plenty of people in the world are so stubborn and delusional that Saddam could do just that and they wouldn't do anything but insist on "diplomacy" while attacking any country that tried to seek justice (i.e. the US and UK). Besides, the UN has been famous for tolerating dictatorships and genocide without ever doing anything other than passing endless unenforced resolutions and engaging in their usual rhetoric, just go take a look at China and Bosnia or any other third world police state. The UN is irrelevant, any organization that places Libya in charge of human rights is, and anyone who thinks that there was ever peace for Iraqis under Saddam to begin with is clueless.

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Now all I can do is hope the outcome is as positive as possible for everyone involved

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It will be very positive, you have my Jookly AAA Super %100 Seal of YEA!

About 200 students ran out of my school today and walked to county hall in protest. It was one of the funniest things I've ever seen! It wasn't organised or anything… a bunch of sixth-formers (last 2 years of school) were going to have a little protest, just a few of them… then a class of year nines found out… before they knew it there was half of year nine, ten and eleven holding little pencilled banners… Someone ran into my classroom yelling 'come on! Protest outside! Yeah, let's go!' And I thought he was kidding. Then I had a look and there was this mob outside… My jaw practically dropped to the floor, it was unbelievable.

It was an impressive sight but a bit pointless… the war's already started and they were just using it as an excuse to get out of lessons. Some people had 'world peace' banners but others had 'Bomb Iraq' so it wasn't exactly what you'd call a united cause… Some of the teachers were joining in, and others were looking majorly p*issed off. All the 'bomb Iraq' posters took away any credibility to the whole fiasco. I decided to head back to class as it was all a bit of a scam. Then as I walked away I heard this massive cheer. I turned round to see the whole crowd of them running towards me (yikes) and out of school… it was amazing! They were sprinting down the road going 'world peace!' or 'bomb them! Yeah!' and I found out later they didn't stop until they reached county hall. The police turned up and everything. (Then someone came out and told them all to get back to school, which sort of dispelled the drama). I think it would have been really impressive if so obviously most of them had no clue what was going on. It's been happening in schools all over the country, apparently. Biggest excitement I've had in a long time… Sooo funny!

On a serious note, I really wanted them to find a peaceful solution to resolve this problem and am one of the 'peacies'. If there'd been a proper organised anti-war protest at school I would definitely have been up for it - as it was, it was just an excuse to bunk off, and I wish there'd been more of a deep motivation behind it. Says a lot about how much most teenagers really think about these things, they were just shouting whatever came into their heads.

The feeling of inevitability about this war has really got me down… I feel saddened, but not surprised that it has now begun. I wish at least that I could have felt surprised. I still think a peaceful solution was possible and the fact that we chose the option of war really ought to surprise me more. What can I say. It didn't.

Now all I can do is hope the outcome is as positive as possible for everyone involved (optimist, me?).

Bex

Sinope those are some good ideas but they cant be implemented while Saddam is in power.

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send in hundreds of UN inspectors, whom have complete freedom to search where ever they want. (if they can't find weapons, what makes people so sure that a military is going to find them???)

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Saddam doesnt let inspectors look everywhere at anytime, we tried for years to get him to let us search the entire country.

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Assemble an international peace coalition, backed completely by the UN, to go into iraq and bring food, supplies, medicine, literature, computers(?), teachers, etc, etc. (if the iraqis don't care or know about democracy, what makes BUSH think he is going to force it on them?)

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Saddam wont allow these things to just be brought in and given to his people, they would need to be given to him.... and he would not give them to the people. He is evil like that.

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*Start a UN\Iraq alliant newspaper, with the iraqi people. maybe if we had a first hand correspondence with the people there we could have a better idea of the experience and situation in general. and maybe the exposure will gain more of a union between all countries about what to do in regards to suddam.

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This isnt really a solution to the problem but i think its a good idea. I have been hearing a lot more Iraqi and American-Iraqi oppinions on the news latley and it sounds like the majority of them are definitly behind the war %100.

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*send in the boondock saints.

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I think i heard of a movie with this name? Is it something else as well?

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at least us peaceies would be able to sleep knowing, "hey. we tried

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Sleep well my friend, it is our last resort and our best option to take the offensive. It will be a quick war and we will all benifit from it. Peace.

Horray for Peaceies
It was just assumed that peace was obvious, but most people thought that preaching for peaceful solution was just sending staem out of your mouth.

These are excellent suggestions, people have to realise that to help a nation we have to help them liberate themselves.

it's awesome sinope^^
yeah at least thinking of this kind of solutions doesn't make our mind too militant...