MGOH:

From your link:

"Troy Davis of the World Citizen Foundation has been sketching out an ingenious means of pulling the rug from beneath Saddam's feet."

Its not ingenious its illegal.

"The United Nations, he proposes, should help the opposition groups based abroad and in Iraq's no-fly zones to establish a democratically-elected government in exile."

The UN cannot do this it is against its Charter. How on earth he expects the people, particularly in the Southern No-Fly Zone, to conduct an election under the eyes of the Special Republican Guard and Fedyin Saddam I do not know. The Kurds in the North are not too badly off they already have their own assembly.

"This government is then given the world's Iraqi embassies and the nation's frozen assets."

Again illegal - its called theft - can't see the UN having anything to do with it.

"It gradually takes control of the no-fly zones and the oil-for-food programme."

How? How do you take control of a no-fly zone? Iraqi troops are still present inside those no-fly zones, they only exist so that Saddam cannot reinforce his actions with airpower. How would it take control of the oil for food programme?

"Saddam Hussein would find himself both isolated diplomatically and confronted by a legitimate alternative government."

No he wouldn't - the alternative government crafted under this proposal is illegal and governs nothing.

"It is not hard to see how his authority over his own people would be undermined, permitting him to be toppled more easily."

So lets understand this aright - Saddam's authority over his people comes from the barrel of a gun, the threat of imprisonment, torture and death. In short he rules by terror. To do this he requires armed forces made up of loyal cadres (SRG & FS are recruited exclusively from Saddam's own tribal group). I can see nothing in the above that even remotely tarnishes Saddam's authority let alone diminish, or undermine it. Therefore toppling him is as hard, if not harder, after implimenting this fiasco of a plan as it is now.

I read through the thread that this was originally mentioned in - I'm not surprised that Bobert liked it and praised it as classic example of someone thinking out of the box. It seems to be a fairly pointless exercise unless your proposal addresses the current situation, reflects reality and has some vestage of attainability.


This plan also ensures that democracy is less likely to be frustrated by the installation of a puppet regime."