A Letter to US Senators

April 5,2004

Dear Senators, In Iraq the US is falling into the IsPal (Israeli/Palestinian) syndrome of violent escalation. There is no way out. The insurgents will not let up, the more US military retaliates the larger the army of insurgents will grow, the greater the anger and hate, the more deaths and destruction (to everything including good intentions and hope for order and peace). When we are in too deep, the next historical stupidity is "We can't pull out, it will look as though they won."

This is an old, deaf, dumb and blind compulsive "policy." We must stop thinking about imposing our perspective and using our young American men and women as canon fodder for anyone's policy or agenda! We must stop inflicting death and insult on native peoples and creating greater danger for ourselves and the world. We must stop catering to the elite and trying to sell to the world that we are building democracy.

As we continue to train Iraqis in management and security, what we must also do is keep our troops in the bases there (of course to defend against direct attack and to prevent major insurgent attacks), and send out massive amounts of material: food, building material. and goods for the people to run their businesses, provide jobs and constructive interests; send out helpers and teachers and medical personnel. In short we must do a "Marshall Plan" for grass roots people and to publicize this in every way. We must allow large and small peaceful demonstrations without military presence (which inflames the crowds). We must announce "peaceful demonstration is a right for all free people everywhere, and we support it" Reverse psychology takes the wind out of the sails of those who are hostile.

We must validate and support the citizens, without exception. We must bring reps of competing groups and sections of the country together and conduct listening and learning workshops so that they can hear each other’s stories, and have the opportunity to vent anger and resentments in a safe environment. When people are supported to do this, they grow to understand each other and to step into one another's shoes. Mutual respect and trust grows from this. What is the alternative: strife, civil war and the US stuck there in the middle east for years, with its cost in lives and dollars and world wide status?

Thank you for listening and doing what you can to bring aware and intelligent ideas forth as alternatives to the historical brutality of conflict. I wish the very best to you and yours, and thanks for your service to the country

Jack Doner

PS. No matter what we do, when we leave Iraq there will be civil war, because of the centuries of habitual conflict. This is predictable. “Iraq’ was to begin with an artificial construct. Instead there needs to be three autonomous regions, Kurdish, Shiite and Sunni, with a central administration to attend to common needs: arbitration, defense, currency, trade and the like.