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commercial code, incorporation and contract laws. None of these requires the formation of a specific form of elected government. These institutions would be regulatory agencies run by technocrats and bureaucrats. They would be the most important part of a central government but would have little or no political power over the federated states.
We must support the installation of a free press -- in all the media -- by encouraging private enterprise through some government subsidy. The Iraqis must have access to The Honeymooners re-runs, Law and Order, and Fox News if they are to understand America.
1. An American military presence that guarantees regional stability, oil assets, and business development.
2. American administration of oil assets that prevents internal fragmentation and external incursion. It also de-Arabizes control over Middle Eastern oil.
3. Creation of a government with a weak central administration and strong federated states that each determine their own culture.
4. Coalition encouragement of market and business oriented institutions, allowing democratic ideas to emerge from a prosperous bourgeois business community.
5. Subsidization of a private enterprise free press.
Yale Kramer is a psychiatrist. His plan was posted on the website Horsefeathers he hosts with fellow psychiatrist Steven Rittenberg.
AFSI does not generally single out the environmental movement in America. If they don't meddle in Middle East politics, we try to avoid stepping on snail darters. However, the recent defeat of the President's proposal to drill for oil in Alaska strikes us as self-defeating folly.
Energy independence for America is a top priority issue. The nations of OPEC are holding us hostage at the pump. They have the ability to disrupt our economy and force political decisions that are inimical to our self interest.
We should listen to Democratic Senator John Breaux of Louisiana who has repeatedly pointed to the experience of his state. Environmentally sensitive drill-ing did not harm the environment of Louisiana and it will not harm Alaska whose citizens and legislators want oil independence.
Making us independent of foreign oil will help flora and fauna as well as our economy.
The title may sound like a parody, but it's painfully true. Coalition forces were trying to contain a looting rampage in Baghdad and dodging bullets throughout Iraq. In the north, near the Syrian border, a fierce battle was raging. Secretary of State Rumsfeld issued strict warnings to Syria for its material help to Iraqi enemies. Ollie North revealed on Fox News that Jordan had supplied weapons to Iraq, and documentation had been seized showing the Russians had spied for Saddam. In the midst of this, Israel surrendered. The white flag was first unfurled on CNN to Paula Zahn by Israel's Ambassador Pinkas Alon.
Paula Zahn asked Alon about Arab demands for an immediate end to settlements. The question was occasioned by the controlled tantrum of her previous guest, an Arab journalist, who delivered the usual Arab diplomat/journalist rant: "Saddam is bad. He's gone. Coalition forces have to restore order and leave. America has to force Israel to end its occupation, settlements, etc."
Ambassador Alon began by saying that all the Arabs had to do was to end the violence and change their government. He then grew effusive and declared that the "Palestinians" had a new "Prime Minister" who was trying to form a cabinet; that both sides should sit down to discuss the road map. When Zahn pressed again about settlements, he smiled his goofy smile and added that Israel was prepared to regroup the settlements. He used the word "dismantle" and spoke of a contiguous independent state. The only thing he did not surrender on the spot was Haifa.
That will be left to Arik Sharon, Israel's lion turned lemming. On the very next day, Sharon announced during an interview that he was prepared to make concessions "painful" to himself and the Jewish people. His rationale was the "new opportunity" created by the coalition's victory in Iraq.
Now there is the real "root problem" of the Israel-Arab conflict -- Israeli acquiescence to Arab demands, even before negotiations. Why in the world would Arabs stop escalating their demands when Israel and its dimwitted leaders surrender preemptively?
Ruth King is a member of the executive committee of Americans For a Safe Israel.
Outpost - 10 - May 2003