Thomas Friedman has a new editorial in the New York Times with specific suggestions to bring stability to Iraq. He directs his remarks to Republicans because Democrats have no voice in the administration or in Congress. Read his editorial here. His specific recommendations are:

1. Do not accept Turkish troops as peacekeepers in Iraq. Iraqis remember them as rulers before WWI. They have even less legitimacy in Iraqi eyes than do the Americans. This alienates mainly the Kurds, who have the biggest interest in keeping the Turks out.

2. Republicans need to recognize that attacks on Americans are rising in Iraq. We are not just conducting mop-up operations, but waging a full-on guerilla war.

3. We need to accept former Baath party members into mid-level Iraqi government jobs. Most of them joined the party to get the better jobs and are vital to American interests as the technocrats who can run the country. They make up the majority of the secular middle class and come mainly from the Sunni community, which the US is alienating through de-Baathification. By taking them out of the running for government jobs, the Americans take away any incentive they have in reconstruction. If former Baath party members perceive that they have no stake in reconstruction, then the Sunni community will continue to be opposed to the American occupation and violent resistance will continue.

4. The most difficult objective for the American administration is to prevent the growing split in the Shiite community between the moderates who are willing to give the Americans a chance and the more militant clerics who challenge American rule.

The bottom line is that America needs to promote a moderate political center in Iraq. This is the strategy that succeeded in Germany and Japan. It was not enough to drop money on those countries and $87 billion alone won't be enough to make us succeed in Iraq. As Thomas Friedman says, we need a strategy that will help establish a moderate political center and a middle class that has an stake in Iraqi reconstruction.

Life has been quite busy for me in the past month. I have been getting ready to move out of town (into another state.) Here is the text of a letter I sent to my current and future Senators and Congressional Representatives.

Dear Senator,

I believe it is necessary to appropriate reconstruction money as well as money to support our troops in Iraq. I was against the war in Iraq and still think it was a bad idea. However, at this point, I feel the US has a responsibility to continue the job that we started. But I am not happy about it.

However, I think that $87 billion dollars is an outrageous amount. The Bush administration was not upfront about the costs of the war before beginning it. The administration undercut any international support for our actions by its arrogant go-it-alone attitude. Finally, the administration made it more difficult to pay for this war by drastically cutting taxes and putting the Federal government in deficit. I feel as if I was sold a car that I did not want and am now forced to take out a second mortgage on my house to pay for it. I am not happy about this.

I hope you bring this information to the rest of the Senate and hold the Bush administration accountable for its diplomatic and policy failures.