Saving soldiers' lives in Iraq

I, like many others, watch the news every evening and the constant filming of roadside bombs that have killed more soldiers in Iraq. I noticed something this evening that I hadn't put together until today. Every picture taken shows some Iraqis around a deep hole where the bomb exploded in the road. I thought to myself that there must be a way to stop or minimize this. Here's what I came up with:

Every bomb that exploded was on a dirt road and the soldiers driving on that road have no idea a bomb could be beneath it. Somehow these roads are dug up and explosives are placed in them and then covered up. It must be done under the cover of darkness, otherwise it would be noticed, is my guess. So here are the steps I would take if I were in charge there. First, I would identify and prioritize the roads I wanted to protect (for transporting goods, troops and troop supplies). Secondly, I would pave the roads with asphalt, which could be done round the clock under guard. This is similar to the idea Israel employed of building a wall which had been constructed 24 hrs a day and 6 days a week. I would use a heavy force of Army and Marines to keep folks away during construction to ensure the work went on uninterrupted. Thirdly, I would install small video surveillance cameras, with night vision capability, on polls or on nearby buildings to monitor the roads. I would see where these bad guys are coming from, take still pictures of who they are and give them to Iraqi forces to hunt down. I would complete one road at a time and get the job done using contractors where necessary. If there were no asphalt capability there, I would consider cement. In either case, this would advance rebuilding the country's infrastructure and help average Iraqis travel more safely. One of the first roads I would complete, would be the one from the Green Zone to Baghdad Airport,

I told you I want solutions to some of these problems, not just throwing our collective hands up in the air and giving up. As long as we have soldiers there, we need to think of ways to protect them. Any tampering with the surfaces of the road would be easily noticed and asphalting or cementing them could prevent loss of life. I think it was a mistake to go into Iraq in the first place, but we are there as a nation now and we must not leave this mess to fester for many decades to come. As Colin Powell advised President Bush, "if you break Iraq, you must fix it." That falls now on all Americans.

Another thing I would do is to add another 75,000-100,000 troops to Iraq immediately to help secure the borders and allow those with more experience their help find the bad guys. I would keep them there through the voting of the Constituion in October and elections scheduled for December. To help maximize a successful outcome, I would ask the Iraqi government to initiate Marshall law between certain hours of the evening with the orders that anyone out in the streets in those hours will be considered hostile forces and will be shot. I know this idea won't play well with anti-war advocates. I too am saddened by every loss. Cindy Sheehan of California is still trying to see President Bush to ask why her son died. This is a good question to ask the President from a mother who lost her son, as the rationale for going into Iraq wasn't right or good and most likely for vengence against the Iraqi dictator's attempted assasination of George W.'s father. But that was then and this is now.

OK, I gave it my best shot to date. How about some ideas from the rest of you. We must all learn help with ideas. Oh, one other point. I encourage a movement within the US to stop driving one day a week (using carpools, public transportation and working from home, if you can) to let supply catch up with demand on oil and gasoline consumption. It saves us money and keeps the money out of the Arab World and OPEC. It might teach them there's no free lunch for them either. We need to start playing tough too.