The Iron Dice

At the end of The Great War the German high command met and evaluated their position. They came to the conclusion that they were almost out of ammunition, the treasury was almost empty, and they couldn't hold on for very long. The meeting of course was heavily documented and one of the quotes that came out was "Its time to roll the Iron Dice." By rolling the iron dice they had to ask for peace and see what the allies would let them have.

Throughout life there are time when knowing when to quit is very important. If the Germans had asked for peace earlier then they probably could have gotten more out of the peace treaty and perhaps Hitler wouldn't have been able to rise to power. There are countless places in the world today where people are asking if its time to roll the iron dice or not granted their iron dice don't weigh as much as the ones the Germans had to roll. Some of these areas are Iraq, Darfur, Cuba, North Korea, and other countries that are either growing or shrinking. For places like North Korea the question is how hard can N. Korea push before there is a retarding action taken. While in other places like Iraq the question is if we pull out will the system right itself?

Given the nature of systems it is a guarantee that Iraq will right itself eventually. However, the question remains as to whether or not the system that emerges is going to be one that the U.S. can work with. Since Iraq does have large amounts of oil and we need that oil. What ever happens Iraq must be willing to conduct business with us.

If the Iraqi people actually voted for a democratic government and want that then I think the U.S. should work to provide that. However, if the people want a regime like the old one then fine lets leave. The biggest question that I had going into Iraq was whether or not the people actually wanted the U.S. to liberate them. Now that we have control and can enforce a fair election we might want to think about asking the people if they want us there, and if they say no then we take control of oil production and leave them to fight it out amongst themselves. I don't want the U.S. to control the oil output of Iraq since no good will come of stealing those peoples natural resources. But if the oil and a few other national treasures/resources are placed into a trust that is controlled by the U.N. then Iraq can fight it out and when they need the money from the oil to rebuild they can have it.

This plan would do a few things, it would show the world that we support Iraq and the U.N. by doing what is best for both organizations. It would also make it so the problem isn't the U.S. versus the people of Iraq it would mean that the world takes on a lot more involvement. The biggest problem is then controlling who gets the oil out of Iraq, which will drive up costs for oil in America.

Regardless of the outcome of Iraq it has been proven that allowing such a volatile nation control something that is so important to the world economy is a bad idea. Countries are like a tribe of people with loose affiliations, and reliance on one another for various reasons. If it is proven that a single entitie is not working for the betterment of the group then members of the group will reduce that individuals ability to effect changes in the group.