Think Outside the Box (caveat, wake up first)

This morning I awoke to an Iraqi commentator on NPR discussing a possible solution to the War in Iraq. It is not less troops they need, but more to ensure security. But they don't want Americans, the commentator said they'd really rather have Japanese. They had troops from Japan in the south and no shots were ever fired. The Japanese it seems had more credibility and so the Iraqis had no problem with them.

I hit the snooze button and I started to think. Let's kill two birds with one stone. Japan has no interest in sending troops to Iraq--what's in it for them. We need a country of people who need the money, but who have no political sides. To our south, we have all these people who take great risks to come to the US--they travel through the desert to get here and overcome great hardship. It's desert conditions in Iraq--great hardships--a solution is emerging. Rather than deport the illegal immigrants that get in, we should offer them a four year stint in the army in Iraq. They'll work for minimum wage and as a bonus if they finish their tour, we'll let them apply to be citizens. If we don't have room for veterans in our country, that's really bad. Of course, we'd probably have to give them a gun--that could be problematic. There's a story in the Witzel family lore that a great uncle (my grandmother's great uncle or great, great uncle) in France on the farm traveled a long distance to get hired on with the Russian army--got his free gun and pair of boots and then disserted right away.

It sounded so much better when I was half asleep.